£,  i  v  3 1 T  Y 


FROM   THE 

BOYS'  AND  GIRLS'  MAGAZINE. 


"  Joe  and  two  others  were  despatched  to  row  it  oaiore."— See  p.  31 . 


MARCO    PAUL'S 

ADVENTURES 
IN    PURSUIT    OF    KNOWLEDGE 


FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 


12Y    THE    AUTHOH    OF 

ROLLO,  JONAS,  AND  LUCY   BOOKS. 


BOSTON: 
T      H .    C  A  R  T  E  U    &    COMPANY, 

11^1     WASHINGTON     STREET. 

1  S  4  3  . 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1843, 

BY    T.    H.    CARTER, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts, 


STUUEOTYPED    BY 

GEORGE    A.  CURTIS, 

ENGLAND  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY,  BOSTON. 


A 


PREFACE. 

THE  design  of  the  series  of  volumes,  which  it  is 
intended  to  issue  under  the  general  title  of  MARCO 
PAUL'S  ADVENTURES  IN  THE  PURSUIT  OF  KNOWLEDGE, 
is  not  merely  to  entertain  the  reader  with  a  narrative 
of  juvenile  adventures,  but  also  to  communicate,  in  con 
nexion  with  them,  as  extensive  and  varied  information 
as  possible,  in  respect  to  the  geography,  the  scenery, 
the  customs  and  the  institutions  of  this  country,  as  they 
present  themselves  to  the  observation  of  the  little  tra 
veller,  who  makes  his  excursions  under  the  guidance 
of  an  intelligent  and  well-informed  companion,  qualified 
to  assist  him  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  and  in  the 
formation  of  character.  The  author  will  endeavor  to 
enliven  his  narrative,  and  to  infuse  into  it  elements  of  a 
salutary  moral  influence,  by  means  of  personal  inci 
dents  befalling  the  actors  in  the  story.  These  incidents 
are,  of  course,  imaginary — but  the  reader  may  rely 
upon  the  strict  and  exact  truth  and  fidelity  of  all  the 
descriptions  of  places,  institutions  and  scenes,  which  are 
brought  before  his  mind  in  the  progress  of  the  narra 
tive.  Thus,  though  the  author  hopes  that  the  readers, 
who  may  honor  these  volumes  with  their  perusal,  will 
be  amused  and  interested  by  them,  his  design  through 
out  will  be  to  ins  ruct  rather  than  to  entertain. 

364342 


JCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS 
OF  MAINE, 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  KENNEBEC. 

•    JE  summer,  Forester  and  Marco  Paul  formed 

in  for  going  to  Quebec.      Marco  was  very 

i  interested  in  going  to  Quebec,  as  he  wanted 

3e  the  fortifications.     Forester  had  told  him 

Quebec  was  a  strongly-fortified  city,  being  a 

limitary  post  of  great   importance,  belonging  to 

the  British  government.     Marco  was  very  much 

pleased  at  the    idea  of  seeing  the  fortifications, 

and  the  soldiers  that  he  supposed  must  be  placed 

there  to  defend  them. 

On  their  way  to  Quebec,  they  had  to  sail  up  the 
Kennebec  in  a  steamboat.  As  they  were  passing 
along,  Marco  and  Forester  sat  upon  the  deck. 
It  was  a  pleasant  summer  morning.  They  had 
been  sailing  all  night  upon  the  sea,  on  the  route 
from  Boston  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec.  They 
entered  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec  very  early  in 
the  morning,  just  before  Forester  and  Marco  got 
up.  And  thus  it  happened  that  when  they  came 


12      MARCO   PAUL  IN    THS    fuPESTS   OF   MAINE. 

up  vpon  the  «!eck.  tiny  found  that  they  were  sail 
ing  in  a  river.  The  water  was  smooth  and  glassy, 
shining  brilliantly  under  the  rays  of  the  morning 
sun,  which  was  just  beginning  to  rise. 

The  shores  of  the  river  were  rocky  and  barren. 
Here  and  there,  in  the  coves  and  eddies,  were 
what  appeared  to  Marco  to  be  little  fences  in  the 
water.  Forester  told  him  that  they  were  for 
catching  fish.  The  steamboat  moved  very  slowly, 
and  every  moment  the  little  bell  would  ring,  and 
the  engine  would  stop.  Then  the  boat  would 
move  more  slowly  still,  until  the  bell  sounded 
again  for  the  engine  to  be  put  in  motion,  and  then 
the  boat  would  go  on  a  little  faster. 

"What  makes  them  keep  stopping?"  said 
Marco. 

"  The  water  is  very  low  this  morning,"  said 
Forester,  "  and  they  have  to  proceed  very  care 
fully,  or  else  they  will  get  aground." 

"  What  makes  the  water  so  low  now?"  asked 
Marco. 

"  There  are  two  reasons,"  replied  Forester.  "  It 
is  late  in  the  summer,  and  the  streams  and  springs 
are  all  low;  so  that  there  is  but  little  water  to 
come  down  from  the  country  above.  Then,  be 
sides,  the  tide  is  low  this  morning  in  the  sea,  and 
that  causes  what  water  there  is  in  the  bed  of  the 
river  to  run  off  into  the  sea." 

"  Is  not  there  any  tide  in  the  river  ?  "  asked 
Marco. 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  I  suppose  there  is  not, 


THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  KENNEBEC.       13 

strictly  speaking.  That  is,  the  moon,  which  at 
tracts  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  and  makes  them 
rise  and  fall  in  succession,  produces  no  sensible 
effect  upon  the  waters  of  a  river.  But  then  the 
rise  and  fall  of  the  sea  itself  causes  all  rivers  to 
rise  and  fall  near  their  mouths,  and  as  far  up  as 
the  influence  of  the  sea  extends.  You  see,  in 
fact,  that  it  must  be  so." 

"  Not  exactly,"  said  Marco. 

"  Why,  when  the  water  in  the  sea,"  continued 
Forester,  "  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  very  low, 
the  water  in  the  river  can  flow  off  more  readily, 
and  this  makes  the  water  fall  in  the  river  itself. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  the  water  in  the  sea  is 
high,  the  water  cannot  run  out  from  the  river,  and 
so  it  rises.  Sometimes,  in  fact,  the  sea  rises  so 
much  that  the  water  from  the  sea  flows  up  into 
the  river,  and  makes  it  salt  for  a  considerable  dis 
tance  from  its  mouth." 

"  I  wonder  whether  the  water  is  salt  here,"  said 
Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Forester. 

"  If  we  had  a  pail  with  a  long  rope  to  it,"  said 
Marco,  "  we  could  let  it  down  and  get  some,  and 
try  it." 

"  We  could  let  the  pail  down,  but  I  doubt  very 
'much  whether  we  could  get  any  water,"  said 
Forester.  "  It  is  quite  difficult  to  drop  the  pail 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  get  any  water  when  the 
vessel  is  under  way." 

"  I  should  like  to  try"  said  Marco. 
2 


14       MARCO   PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

"  You  can  find  out  whether  the  water  is  salt 
easier  than  that,"  said  Forester.  "  You  can  let  a 
twine  string  down,  and  wet  the  end.  That  will 
take  up  enough  for  a  taste." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  if  I  've  got  a  string  long 
enough."  So  saying,  he  hegan  to  feel  in  his 
pockets  for  a  string. 

He  found  a  piece  of  twine,  which  he  thought 
would  be  long  enough,  hut,  on  trial,  it  appeared 
that  it  would  not  reach  quite  to  the  water.  For 
ester  then  tied  it  to  the  end  of  his  cane,  and  al 
lowed  Marco  to  take  the  cane,  and  hold  it  over  the 
side  of  the  vessel;  and  by  this  means  he  suc 
ceeded  in  reaching  the  water,  and  wetting  the  end 
of  the  string.  He  could,  after  all,  succeed  in 
wetting  only  a  small  part  of  the  string,  for  it  was 
drawn  along  so  rapidly  by  the  motion  of  the  boat, 
that  it  skipped  upon  the  surface  of  the  water 
without  sinking  in. 

At  length,  however,  after  he  had  got  the  end  a 
little  wetted,  he  drew  it  up  and  put  it  in  his 
mouth. 

"  How  does  it  taste  ? "  said  Forester. 

The  question  was  hardly  necessary,  for  the  faces 
which  Marco  made  showed  sufficiently  plain  that 
the  water  was  bitter  and  salt. 

"  Yes,  it  is  salt,"  said  he.  Then,  suddenly  cast 
ing  his  eye  upon  a  long  dark-looking  substance, 
which  just  then  came  floating  by,  he  called  out, 

"  Why,  Forester,  what  is  that  ?  " 

"  A  log,"  said  Forester. 


THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  KENNEBEC.       15 

The  log  was  round  and  straight,  and  the  ends 
were  square.  The  log  glided  rapidly  by,  and  soon 
disappeared. 

"  It  is  a  pine  log,"  said  Forester.  "  There  are 
vast  forests  of  pine  trees  in  this  state.  They  cut 
down  the  trees,  and  then  cut  the  trunks  into  pieces 
of  moderate  length,  and  draw  them  on  the  snow  to 
the  rivers.  Then,  in  the  spring,  the  waters  rise 
and  float  the  logs  down.  This  is  one  of  these  logs 
floating  down.  Sometimes  the  river  is  quite  full 
of  them." 

"  Where  do  they  go  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Oh,  men  stop  them  all  along  the  river,  and  put 
them  into  booms,  and  then  fasten  them  together  in 
rafts." 

"  How  do  they  fasten  them  together  ?  "  asked 
Marco. 

"  They  drive  a  pin  into  the  middle  of  each  log, 
and  then  extend  a  rope  along,  fastening  it  to  each 
pin.  In  this  manner,  the  rope  holds  the  logs 
together,  and  they  form  a  long  raft.  When  they 
catch  the  logs  in  booms,  they  afterwards  form  them 
into  rafts,  and  so  float  them  down  the  river  to  the 
mills,  where  they  are  to  be  sawed." 

"  Can  men  stand  upon  the  rafts  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  very  well." 

"  They  make  a  floor  of  boards,  I  suppose,"  said 
Marco.  ^ 

"No,"  replied  Forester;  "they  stand  directly 
upon  the  logs." 


18      MARCO   PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

"  I  should  think  the  logs  would  sink  under 
them,"  replied  Marco,  "  or  at  least  roll  about." 

"  They  sink  a  little,"  replied  Forester ;  "  just 
about  as  much  as  the  bulk  of  the  man  who  stands 
upon  them." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  that,  exactly," 
said  Marco. 

"  Why,  the  rule  of  floating  bodies  is  this,"  re 
joined  Forester.  "  When  any  substance,  like  a 
cake  of  ice,  or  a  log  of  wood,  or  a  boat,  is  floating 
upon  the  water,  a  part  of  it  being  above  the  water 
and  a  part  under  the  water,  if  a  man  steps  upon  it, 
he  makes  it  sink  enough  deeper  to  submerge  a 
part  of  the  wood  or  ice  as  large  as  he  is  himself. 
If  there  is  just  as  much  of  the  wood  or  ice  above 
the  water  as  is  equal  to  the  bulk  of  the  man,  then 
the  man,  in  stepping  upon  it,  will  sink  it  just  to 
the  water's  edge." 

"  But  perhaps  one  man  would  be  heavier  than 
another  man,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester  ;  "  but  then  he  would 
be  larger,  and  so,  according  to  the  principle,  he 
would  make  more  wood  sink  before  the  equi 
librium  was  reached." 

"What  is  equilibrium?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Equilibrium  is  an  equality  between  two 
forces,"  replied  Forester. 

"  I  don't  see  what  two  forces  there  are,"  said 
Marco. 

"  There  is  the  weight  of  the  man  pressing  down 


THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  KENNEBEC.       17 

wards,"  said  Forester,  "  for  one,  and  the  buoyant 
power  of  the  water,  that  is,  its  upward  pressure, 
for  the  other.  The  weight  of  the  man  remains 
constantly  the  same.  But  the  upward  pressure 
of  the  water  increases  in  proportion  as  the  log  sinks 
into  it.  For  the  deeper  the  log  sinks  into  the 
water,  the  more  of  it  is  submerged,  and  it  is  more 
acted  upon  and  pressed  upward  by  the  water.  Now, 
as  one  of  these  forces  remains  constant,  and  the 
other  increases,  they  must  at  length  come  to  be 
equal,  that  is,  in  equilibrium ;  and  then  the  log 
will  not  sink  any  farther.  That 's  the  philosophy 
of  it,  Marco." 

Marco  did  not  reply,  but  sat  looking  at  the  barren 
and  rocky  shores  of  the  river,  as  the  boat  glided  by 
them.  Presently  another  log  came  into  view. 

"  There,"  said  Forester,  "  look  at  that  log,  and 
see  whether  you  think  that  you  could  float  upon  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  I  think  I  could." 

"  It  depends,"  said  Forester,  "  on  the  question 
whether  the  part  of  it  which  is  out  of  water  is  as 
big  as  you  are." 

"  I  think  it  is,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  added  Forester,  "  I  have  no  doubt  that 
it  is." 

"  Only  I  should  roll  off,"  said  Marco. 

"  True,"  replied  Forester ;  "  but  the  mill-men, 
who  work  about  the  logs,  acquire  astonishing  dex 
terity  in  standing  upon  them.  If  there  is  only 
enough  of  the  log  above  water  to  equal  their  bulk, 
2* 


18      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE 

so  that  it  has  buoyant  power  enough  to  float  them, 
they  will  keep  it  steady  with  their  feet,  and  sail 
about  upon  it  very  safely." 

"  I  should  like  to  try,"  said  Marco. 

"  Perhaps  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  at  some 
place  on  the  river,"  said  Forester. 

Here  Marco  suddenly  interrupted  the  conver 
sation  by  pointing  up  the  river  to  a  column  of 
smoke  and  steam  which  he  saw  rising  beyond  a 
point  of  land  which  was  just  before  them. 

"  Here  comes  another  steamboat,"  said  he. 
"  See,  Forester." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  I  believe  that  is  a  steam 
mill." 

"  A  steam  mill !  "  repeated  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester.  "  They  have  steam 
mills  and  tide  mills  to  saw  up  the  logs  in  this  part 
of  the  river.  Farther  up,  where  there  are  water 
falls  on  the  river,  or  on  the  streams  which  empty 
into  it,  they  build  mills  which  are  carried  by  water. 
I  presume  that  that  is  a  steam  mill." 

At  this  moment,  Marco's  attention  was  diverted 
from  the  steam  mill  by  a  boat  which  came  gliding 
into  the  field  of  view.  There  was  one  man  in  the 
boat  rowing  it.  Another  sat  in  the  stern,  with  a 
pole  in  his  hand.  The  pole  had  an  iron  hook  in 
the  end  of  it.  A  short  distance  before  the  boat 
was  a  log  floating  upon  the  water.  The  oarsman 
was  rowing  the  boat  towards  the  log.  He  brought 
it  up  to  it  in  such  a  manner  that  the  other  man 


THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  KENNEBEC.       19 

could  strike  his  hook  into  it.  When  this  was 
done,  the  oarsman  began  to  pull  the  boat  towards 
the  shore,  drawing  the  log  with  it. 

By  this  time  the  whole  group  disappeared  from 
Marco's  view,  behind  a  boat  which  was  hanging 
on  the  quarter  of  the  steamer.  Marco,  who  wished 
to  watch  the  whole  proceeding,  left  Forester,  and 
ran  aft,  in  hopes  that  he  could  get  another  view  of 
the  men  in  the  boat.  He  found,  however,  that  the 
steamboat  was  proceeding  so  rapidly  up  the  river, 
that  he  was  fast  losing  sight  of  them ;  and  then 
he  concluded  to  go  forward  to  the  bows  of  the 
steamboat,  thinking  that,  perhaps,  there  might  be 
other  logs  coming  down  the  river,  with  men  after 
them  in  boats. 

When  he  reached  the  bows,  Marco  found  the 
deck  encumbered  with  cables  and  anchors,  and 
heavy  boxes  of  freight,  which  made  it  difficult  for 
him  to  find  his  way  to  a  good  place  for  a  view. 
He  finally  reached  a  place  where,  by  standing 
upon  an  anchor,  he  could  look  over  the  bulwarks, 
and  get  a  view  of  the  expanse  of  water  before  him. 
It  was  smooth,  and  its  glassy  surface  was  bright 
with  the  reflection  of  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun. 

Marco  admired  the  beauty  of  the  river  and  of 
its  banks,  but  he  could  see  no  boats,  or  even  logs 
coming.  He  saw  some  large  sand  banks  before 
him,  which  had  been  left  bare  by  the  efflux  of  the 
tide.  He  wished  that  the  steamboat  would  stop, 
and  let  him  land  upon  one  of  them.  He  also 
looked  down  over  the  bows,  and  admired  the 


20      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

graceful  form  and  beautiful  smoothness  of  the 
ripple,  or  rather  wave,  which  was  formed  by  the 
cutwater  of  the  boat  as  it  urged  its  way  rapidly 
through  the  water.  After  gazing  upon  this  for 
some  time,  Marco  turned  to  go  away  in  pursuit  of 
Forester,  when  an  occurrence  took  place,  which 
being  somewhat  important  in  its  consequences, 
the  account  of  it  must  be  deferred  to  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  LOST  BUCKET. 

As  Marco  was  stepping  down  from  the  position 
which  he  had  taken  upon  the  anchor,  his  eye  fell 
upon  a  small  bucket,  with  a  long  rope  tied  to  the 
handle,  which  he  immediately  recognised  as  one 
of  those  buckets  which  the  sailors  fit  up  in  that 
way,  in  order  to  draw  up  water  from  alongside 
the  ship. 

"  There 's  a  bucket,  now,"  said  Marco  to  him 
self.  "  I  declare,  I  believe  I  '11  draw  up  some 
water.  Forester  said  that  it  was  hard,  but  I  think 
it  will  be  easy.  I  '11  draw  up  a  bucket  full,  and 
carry  to  him  and  show  him." 

So  saying,  Marco  took  up  the  bucket,  lifted  it 
gently  over  the  side,  and  let  it  down  slowly  by 
the  rope  into  the  water.  There  was  a  knot  in 
the  end  of  the  rope;  and  Marco  held  the  knot 
firmly  in  his  hand,  so  as  to  draw  up  the  bucket  by 
means  of  it,  as  soon  as  he  should  get  it  full.  He 
found,  however,  that,  although  he  could  let  the 
pail  down  easily  enough,  it  was  no  easy  matter  to 
dip  up  any  water  into  it;  for  the  rope,  being 
fastened  to  the  bail  or  handle,  kept  the  handle,  and 


22      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

of  course  the  open  part  of  the  pail,  upwards,  so 
that  the  water  could  not  run  in.  If  Marco  let  the 
rope  down  more,  the  pail,  being  light,  would  not 
sink,  but  skipped  along  upon  the  surface  of  the 
water,  drawn  by  the  motion  of  the  steamboat. 

While  Marco  was  making  these  fruitless  at 
tempts,  another  boy,  dressed  in  sailor's  clothes, 
whom  Marco  had  seen  several  times  before  about 
the  boat,  came  up  to  him,  and  asked  him  what  he 
was  doing. 

"  I  'm  trying  to  get  some  water,"  said  Marco. 

"  That  is  n't  the  way  to  get  it,"  said  the  sailor 
boy.  "  Let  me  have  the  bucket.  I  '11  show  you 
the  way." 

"  No,"  said  Marco,  "  I  want  to  get  it  myself." 

"  You  never  can  get  any  that  way,"  said  the 
boy.  "  You  must  swing  it  back  and  forth,  and 
when  it  is  swinging  well,  let  it  drop  suddenly  and 
catch  the  water." 

So  Marco  began  to  swing  the  bucket  back  and 
forth,  and  after  he  had  got  it  well  a  swinging,  he 
let  down  the  rope  suddenly,  at  the  moment  when 
the  bucket  was  at  the  extent  of  its  oscillation.  The 
bucket  filled  instantly ;  but,  as  the  boat  was  ad 
vancing  rapidly,  it  was  caught  by  the  water  with 
such  force  that  the  rope  was  twitched  out  of 
Marco's  hand  with  great  force. 

"  Hold  on ! "  exclaimed  the  sailor  boy. 

But  it  was  too  late.  The  rope  fell  down  into  the 
water,  and  the  bucket,  rope  and  all,  sailed  back 
upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  until  they  floated 


THE    LOST   BUCKET.  23 

under  the  paddle  wheel  of  the  boat,  which  dashed 
them  down  beneath  the  surface  of  the  water,  and 
they  disappeared  finally  from  view. 

"  Why  did  not  you  hold  on  ?  "  said  the  boy. 

Marco  was  silent. 

The  boy  looked  round  to  see  if  anybody  had  ob 
served  what  had  taken  place.  He  found  that  all  the 
seamen  were  busy  here  and  there,  and  that  nobody 
had  noticed  what  the  two  boys  had  been  doing. 

"  Nobody  has  seen  you,"  said  the  sailor  boy ; 
"  so  you  say  nothing,  and  I  '11  say  nothing." 

"  But  suppose  they  ask  you  what  has  become 
of  that  bucket,"  said  Marco ;  "  what  will  you  tell 
them?" 

"  Oh,  I  '11  tell  them  I  don't  know  where  it  is,"  he 
replied ;  "  and  I  don't.  I  am  sure  I  don't  know 
where  it  is  now :  do  you  ?  Hush,  here  comes  Joe." 

Marco  looked  up  at  these  words,  and  saw  the 
sailor  approaching  whom  the  boy  called  Joe ;  and 
the  boy  himself  immediately  stepped  down  from 
the  anchor,  where  he  and  Marco  had  been  stand 
ing,  and  began  coiling  a  rope  upon  the  deck. 
Marco  walked  sorrowfully  away  towards  the  stern 
of  the  vessel,  where  he  had  left  Forester. 

There  was  something  wrong  and  something 
right  in  the  boy's  proposal  to  Marco,  to  conceal  the 
loss  of  the  bucket.  His  object  was  to  befriend 
and  help  Marco  in  his  distress.  This  was  right. 
The  means  by  which  he  proposed  to  accomplish 
the  object  were  secrecy  and  fraud.  This  was 
wrong.  Thus,  the  end  which  he  had  in  view 


24      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

was  a  good  one,  and  it  evinced  a  good  feeling  in 
him ;  but  the  means  for  promoting  it  were  crim 
inal.  Some  persons  have  maintained  that  if  the 
end  is  only  right,  it  is  of  no  consequence  by  what 
means  we  seek  to  promote  it.  Hence,  they  have 
had  this  maxim,  viz.,  "The  end  sanctifies  th ^ 
means."  But  this  maxim  is  not  sound.  The 
contrary  principle  is  correct.  It  is  sometimes 
expressed  by  this  saying:  "We  must  not  do  evil 
that  good  may  come;"  which  is  a  much  saf  • 
proverb  to  be  guided  by. 

Marco's  first  impulse  was,  to  go  at  once  and 
tell  the  captain  of  the  steamboat  that  he  had  lost 
his  bucket.  But  he  did  not  know  exactly  where 
he  could  find  him.  He  looked  at  his  office  win 
dow,  and  found  that  it  was  shut.  He  asked  one 
of  the  waiters,  whom  he  met  coming  up  stairs 
from  the  cabin,  if  he  knew  where  the  captain  was. 
But  the  waiter  did  not  know.  Presently,  he  saw 
a  gentleman  walking  back  and  forth  upon  that  part 
of  the  deck  which  is  in  front  of  the  door  of  the 
ladies'  cabin.  He  thought  that  he  was  the  cap 
tain.  Marco  walked  up  to  him,  and  accosted  him 
by  saying : 

"  Are  you  the  captain  of  this  boat,  sir  ? " 

"  Am  I  the  captain  ?  "  asked  the  man.  "  Why  ? 
What  do  you  want  to  know  for  ? " 

"  Because,  if  you  are,"  said  Marco,  "  I  have  lost 
your  bucket." 

"  Lost  my  bucket !  "  repeated  the  gentleman. 
"  How  did  you  lose  it  ?  " 


THE   LOST  BUCKET.  25 

"  I  lost  it  overboard,"  said  Marco. 

Here  the  gentleman  laughed,  and  said,  "  No, 
[  'm  not  captain ;  but  you  seem  to  be  an  honest 
sort  of  boy.  I  don't  know  where  the  captain  is." 

All  this,  though  it  has  taken  some  time  to  de 
scribe  it,  took  place  in  a  very  few  minutes ;  and 
the  boat  had  now  advanced  only  so  far  as  to  be 
opposite  the  steam  mill  which  Marco  had  seen 
just  before  he  had  left  Forester.  Marco  happened 
to  see  the  mill  as  the  boat  moved  by  it,  and  he 
went  immediately  to  the  side  of  the  boat  to  get  a 
better  view  of  it. 

There  was  a  chimney  for  the  smoke,  and  a  pipe 
for  the  waste  steam,  at  the  mill.  From  the  steam- 
pipe  there  issued  a  dense  column  of  vapor,  which 
came  up,  however,  not  in  a  regular  current,  like 
the  smoke  from  the  chimney,  but  it  was  puffed  up 
in  regular  strokes,  making  a  sort  of  pulsation. 
While  Marco  was  looking  at  it,  Forester  came 
along,  and  stood  looking  at  it  too.  There  were  a 
great  many  logs  lying  about  the  shore,  and  enor 
mous  piles  of  boards,  which  had  been  sawed,  and 
which  were  ready  for  the  vessels  that  were  to  come 
and  take  them  away. 

"  What  makes  the  steam  come  up  in  puffs  ? " 
asked  Marco. 

"  Because,  it  is  what  they  call  a  high  pressure 
engine,"  said  Forester.  "  It  works  against  the 
pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  All  such  engines 
throw  out  the  steam  in  puffs." 

"  Why  do  they  ?"  asked  Marco. 
3 


26       MARCO   PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

"  Do  you  know  what  the  cylinder  of  a  steam 
engine  is  ?  "  said  Forester. 

"  Not  exactly ;  I  don't  remember  it  very  well," 
replied  Marco. 

"  Come  with  me,  then,"  said  Forester,  "  and  I 
will  show  it  to  you." 

So  saying,  he  took  Marco  to  the  engine  of 
the  boat,  and  showed  him,  in  the  midst  of  the 
machinery,  a  large  iron  vessel,  shaped  like  a  hogs 
head,  only  it  had  straight  sides.  Marco  could  not 
see  much  more  than  the  top  of  it. 

"  That  is  the  cylinder,"  said  Forester.  "  It  is 
the  heart  of  the  steam  engine,  as  I  may  say — the 
seat  of  its  power.  All  the  other  machinery  is  only 
to  aid  the  cylinder,  and  to  convey  the  power  to  the 
point  where  it  is  wanted  to  do  the  work.  Thus, 
the  place  where  the  steam  exerts  its  power,  and  on 
which  the  whole  movement  of  the  machinery  de 
pends,  is  the  cylinder." 

Marco  observed  that  a  long  iron  rod,  large  and 
solid,  and  very  bright,  kept  ascending  and  de 
scending  through  the  top  of  the  cylinder,  as  if 
pushed  up  and  drawn  down  again  by  some  force 
within.  Forester  told  him  that  that  was  the  piston 
rod. 

"  The  piston  rod,"  said  Forester,  "  is  fastened, 
at  its  lower  end,  to  the  piston,  which  is  a  flat 
plate  of  iron,  made  to  fit  the  inside  of  the  cylinder 
exactly." 

"  First,"  said  Forester,  "  the  steam  comes  in 
below  the  piston,  and  drives  it  up ;  and  then  it  is 


THE   LOST   BUCKET.  27 

stopped  from  coming  in  below,  and  is  forced  in 
above,  and  so  drives  it  down." 

"  And  how  does  the  other  steam  get  out  ? " 
asked  Marco. 

"  There  are  two  ways  of  getting  rid  of  the  steam 
that  is  below  the  piston  when  the  piston  is  coming 
down,"  said  Forester.  "  One  way  is,  to  open  a 
passage  to  let  it  out  into  the  air.  On  this  plan, 
when  the  piston  has  been  driven  up,  the  steam  is 
cut  off  from  coming  in  below  the  piston,  and  is 
admitted  above.  At  the  same  instant,  the  passage 
is  opened  to  let  the  lower  steam  out.  Of  course, 
the  steam  that  comes  in  above,  drives  the  piston 
down,  and  forces  the  steam  that  is  below,  out  into 
the  air.  They  generally  have  a  pipe  to  convey  it 
away,  and  as  the  piston  goes  up  and  down,  the 
steam  comes  out  in  puffs,  as  you  saw  it  in  that 
mill." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  I  understand  that ;  and 
now  what  is  the  other  way  ?  " 

"  That  kind  of  engine  is  called  a  high  pressure 
engine,"  said  Forester,  "because  the  piston,  in 
coming  down,  has  to  drive  out  the  steam  from 
below,  against  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere ; 
for  the  atmosphere  above  passes  into  the  pipe, 
and  resists  the  movement  of  the  steam  in  coming 
out.  It  requires  a  greater  force  of  steam  to  work 
the  piston  on  this  plan  than  in  does  upon  the 
other." 

"  What  is  the  plan  of  the  other  ? "  asked 
Marco. 


28      MABCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

"  On  the  other  plan,"  said  Forester,  "  the  steam 
under  the  piston  is  condensed,  that  is,  turned  sud 
denly  into  water;  and  this  leaves  a  vacancy  or 
void  below  the  piston,  so  that  the  piston  can  be 
forced  down  much  more  easily  than  if  it  had  to 
drive  the  steam  out  before  it,  against  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere." 

Forester  was  going  on  to  explain  to  Marco  how 
it  was  that  the  steam  was  condensed  in  the  cylin 
der,  when  the  conversation  was  suddenly  inter 
rupted  by  the  sound  of  the  engine  bell,  which  was 
the  signal  for  the  engine  to  stop.  The  thumping 
sound  of  the  machinery  and  of  the  paddle  wheels 
accordingly  ceased,  and  the  boat  began  to  move 
more  slowly.  Presently,  the  bell  sounded  once 
more,  and  the  piston  rod  slowly  rose  out  of  the 
cylinder,  and  then  slowly  descended  again. 

"  They  are  going  very  slowly,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  the  water  is  low,  and 
I  suppose  that  the  channel  is  narrow.1" 

Just  at  this  moment,  they  perceived  a  strange 
sensation,  as  if  the  steamboat  had  been  suddenly 
pushed  backwards.  Marco  was  startled.  He  did 
not  know  what  it  meant. 

"  There  we  are,"  said  Forester. 

"  What  ?  "  said  Marco.     "  What  is  it  ? " 

"  Aground,"  said  Forester. 

"  Aground  ?  "  repeated  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  that 's  the  sensation 
produced  when  a  ship  goes  aground  upon  sand  or 
soft  mud." 


THE   LOST   BUCKET.  29 

So  saying,  Forester  left  the  engine,  and  went  up 
to  the  upper  deck,  followed  by  Marco.  There 
were  several  persons  there,  looking  out  upon  the 
water. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  we  are  aground.  You 
see  by  the  trees  upon  the  bank  that  we  are  not 
moving." 

Marco  saw  that  they  were  at  rest.  He  asked 
Forester  what  they  were  going  to  do. 

Just  at  this  moment  the  little  bell  sounded,  and 
the  engine,  which  had  been  stopped  when  the  boat 
went  aground,  was  put  in  motion  again. 

"  They  are  going  to  back  the  engine,  I  suppose," 
said  Forester,  "  to  try  to  draw  her  off." 

But  the  boat  would  not  move.  The  engine  did 
not  seem  to  have  power  to  release  her  from  her 
confinement. 

"  What  shall  we  do  now  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  whenever  a  ship  is  aground,"  said  For 
ester,  "  the  first  question  is,  what  is  the  state  of 
the  tide?" 

"  Because,"  continued  Forester,  after  a  moment's 
pause,  "  if  the  tide  is  rising,  it  soon  lifts  the  vessel 
off,  and  enables  her  to  go  back,  or,  perhaps, 
forward,  if  the  water  is  not  very  shallow.  But,  if 
the  tide  is  falling,  it  leaves  her  to  rest  more  and 
more  upon  the  sand,  and  she  cannot  get  off  until 
the  water  has  gone  entirely  down,  and  then  rises 
again.  She  cannot  get  off,  in  fact,  until  the 
water  has  risen  higher  than  it  was  when  she  first 
grounded." 


30      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

"  And  how  is  it  now  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  presume  the  tide  is  going  down,"  said  For 
ester  ;  "  and  if  so,  we  must  wait  here  until  it  rises 
again."  So  saying,  he  began  to  look  about  for 
somebody  of  whom  he  could  inquire.  He  soon 
heard  a  gentleman  say  to  another  that  the  tide 
was  falling,  and  that  they  should  have  to  stay 
here  three  hours. 

"  That 's  rather  provoking,"  said  Marco. 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Forester.  "  Perhaps  we  can  go 
ashore." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  with  an  expression  of 
gratification  at  the  proposal. 

"  And  perhaps  we  can  borrow  some  fishing 
lines,  and  go  a  fishing." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  that  will  be  an  excellent 
plan." 

"  At  any  rate,"  said  Forester,  "  when  accidents 
of  this  sort  occur  upon  our  travels,  we  should  not 
allow  ourselves  to  be  provoked  by  them,  but  make 
ourselves  contented  by  the  best  means  within  our 
reach." 

At  this  time,  they  began  to  hear  the  loud,  hissing 
sound,  produced  by  the  blowing  off  of  the  steam 
from  the  engine,  which  Forester  said  was  an  ad 
ditional  indication  that  they  were  going  to  remain 
there  for  some  time.  Presently,  a  man  came  up 
the  stairs  from  the  deck  below — for  Forester  and 
Marco  were  at  this  time  on  the  upper  deck — and 
told  the  passengers  that  the  boat  would  have  to 
remain  there  three  or  four  hours,  and  that  if  any 


THE    LOST   BUCKET. 


31 


of  them  wished  to  go  ashore  to  amuse  themselves, 
he  would  send  them  in  his  boat,  after  breakfast. 

Quite  a  number  of  the  passengers  seemed  dis 
posed  to  accept  this  offer,  and  the  boat  was  ac 
cordingly  lowered ;  and  Joe,  with  two  other  sailors, 
were  despatched  to  row  it  ashore.  They  were  all 
safely  landed  upon  a  raft  of  logs,  just  above  the 
mill. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A   RAFT. 

FORESTER  and  Marco  did  not  take  breakfast  on 
board  the  steamboat,  but  waited  until  they  got  on 
shore.  They  had  inquired  of  a  fellow-passenger, 
who  seemed  acquainted  with  the  country,  and 
were  told  that  there  was  a  very  good  tavern  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  mill.  » 

When  they  landed  upon  the  logs,  Marco,  whose 
curiosity  seemed  to  be  stronger  than  his  appetite, 
wanted  to  ramble  about  for  a  little  time  along  the 
shore  and  among  the  piles  of  boards,  but  Forester 
thought  it  would  be  best  first  to  go  and  get  their 
breakfast. 

"  Because,"  said  he,  "  we  can  then  amuse  our 
selves  by  rambling  about  here,  and  shall  be  ready 
to  return  to  the  steamboat  whenever  they  send  for 
us." 

So  they  went  to  the  tavern. 

Forester  seemed  to  have  little  appetite  for  his 
breakfast.  He  complained  of  feeling  fatigued, 
and  yet  he  had  nothing  to  fatigue  him.  Marco 
ate,  and  talked  fast  all  the  time;  but  Forester 
seemed  silent  and  dejected. 


A   RAFT.  33 

"  Come,  cousin  Forester,  what  is  the  matter 
with  you  ? "  said  Marco  at  last. 

Forester  said  that  he  felt  somewhat  unwell,  and 
as  there  was  a  sofa  in  the  room,  he  concluded  to 
lie  down  upon  it,  and  not  go  out.  Marco  was,  at 
first,  disposed  to  stay  and  take  care  of  him,  but 
Forester  said  that  he  did  not  need  anything,  and 
he  wished  Marco  to  go  out  and  amuse  himself. 

"  You  may  go  and  see  the  mill,"  said  he, "  and 
the  logs  along  the  shore  ;  only  be  careful  not  to  go 
where  there  is  any  danger ;  and  come  and  let  me 
know  when  the  boat  is  coming  from  the  steamer 
to  take  us  on  board  again." 

So  Marco  left  Forester  upon  the  sofa,  and  went 
away.  He  was  sorry  that  he  was  sick,  and  he  was 
particularly  sorry  that  he  had  to  go  himself  with 
out  company.  But,  concluding  that  he  would 
adopt  Forester's  principle  of  making  the  best  of 
everything,  fti  the  events  which  occur  in  travel 
ling,  he  walked  along  the  road,  singing  a  tune 
which  he  had  learned  at  a  juvenile  singing  school 
in  New  York,  and  watching  the  pulsations  of  the 
steam,  as  it  issued  from  the  pipe  at  the  mill. 

As  Marco  walked  along,  it  occurred  to  him  that 
he  had  not,  after  all,  succeeded  in  acknowledging 
to  the  captain  of  the  steamboat  that  he  had  lost 
the  bucket.  And,  since  the  first  occasion  for  doing 
so  had  gone  by,  he  began  to  doubt  whether  it 
would  be  best  for  him  to  trouble  himself  any  farther 
about  it. 

"  The  bucket  was  not  worth  much,"  said  he  to 


34       MARCO    PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

himself.  "  Nobody  knows  it  is  lost,  except  that 
boy,  and  he  will  not  tell.  I  've  a  great  mind  not  to 
say  anything  about  it." 

In  fact,  Marco  found  that  he  was  much  less 
inclined  to  make  his  acknowledgment  now,  than 
he  was  when  the  circumstance  first  occurred.  He 
wished  that  he  had  at  once  stated  the  facts  to  For 
ester,  which  would  have  been  his  wisest  course  ; 
but  now,  that  the  first  occasion  for  doing  so  had 
passed  away,  he  began  to  feel  disinclined  to  do 
it  at  all. 

Marco  soon  reached  the  mill,  and  he  amused 
himself,  for  half  an  hour,  in  watching  the  movement 
of  the  engine,  the  strokes  of  the  saw,  and  the 
drawing  up  of  the  logs  from  the  water  to  the  floor 
of  the  mill.  There  was  a  steep,  sloping  platform 
from  the  mill  down  to  the  river,  and  a  long  chain 
extended  down  to  the  water.  This  chain  was  fas 
tened  to  one  end  of  one  of  the  logs,  which  lay 
floating  there,  and  then,  by  means  of  the  ma 
chinery,  it  was  drawn  slowly  up,  bringing  the 
ponderous  log  with  it. 

The  way  in  which  the  machinery  drew  up  the 
chain  was  this  :  The  end  of  the  chain,  which  was 
within  the  mill,  was  wound  around  an  axle,  which 
was  made  to  revolve  by  the  machinery.  The  axle, 
thus  revolving,  wound  up  the  chain,  and,  in  this 
manner,  drew  it  gradually  in,  by  which  means 
the  log,  which  was  attached  to  the  lower  end  of  it, 
was  drawn  up. 

Presently,  Marco's  attention  was  attracted  to- 


A   RAFT.  35 

wards  some  men,  who  seemed  to  be  sailing  about 
upon  some  logs,  in  a  cove,  just  below  the  mill. 
He  went  down  immediately  to  see  what  they  were 
doing.  They  had  long  poles  in  their  hands,  with 
iron  points  in  the  ends  of  them,  and  were  pushing 
the  logs  about  with  these  poles,  to  choose  out  such 
as  they  wished  to  saw  in  the  mill. 

Just  as  Marco  came  down,  one  of  the  men 
stepped  upon  the  end  of  a  log  which  was  floating 
very  near  him.  The  log  sank  a  little,  but  not 
much,  under  him,  and  the  man  walked  along 
towards  the  other  end  of  it.  Marco  wondered  how 
he  could  keep  his  balance. 

When  the  millman  reached  the  farther  end  of 
the  log,  he  extended  his  long  pole  very  dexterously, 
and  struck  the  point  of  it  into  the  corner  of  a  sort 
of  wharf,  which  was  built  upon  the  bank ;  and 
then,  pulling  gently,  he  drew  himself  along,  to 
gether  with  the  log  upon  which  he  was  floating. 
Marco  was  surprised  at  this,  and  he  wondered  that 
the  man  did  not  fall  off  the  log.  He  thought  that 
if  the  log  were  to  roll  in  the  least  degree,  the  man 
would  be  rolled  off  into  the  water.  He  ran  down 
to  the  little  wharf,  so  that  he  could  see  better. 

"  Well,  my  boy,"  said  the  millman,  "  do  you 
belong  on  board  the  steamboat  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Marco  ;  "  we  got  aground. 
You  '11  fall  off  of  that  log  if  you  don't  take  care." 

"  No,"  said  the  millman,  "  there 's  no  danger." 

"  Why,  if  the  log  should  roll  the  least  atom, 


36      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE   FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

away  you  'd  go,"  said  Marco,  "  though  the  water 
is  not  very  deep." 

Here  the  man  began  to  step  upon  the  log  in  a 
peculiar  manner,  so  as  to  make  it  roll.  It  rolled 
slowly,  but  the  man  continued  stepping  until  he 
had  rolled  it  completely  over.  The  side  which 
had  been  under  water  appeared  of  a  dark  color, 
and  was  very  slippery,  being  covered  with  a  sort 
of  slime  ;  but  the  man  did  not  slip.  After  he  had 
thus  rolled  the  log  completely  over,  he  looked  up 
to  Marco,  and  said, 

"  There,  you  see  that  there  is  no  danger." 

When  the  man  had  drawn  this  log  up  to  the 
shore,  he  went  for  another ;  and  he  had  to  sail 
upon  this  second  one  a  long  distance,  in  bringing 
it  to  its  place.  He  pushed  himself  along  by  run 
ning  his  pole  down  to  the  bottom,  and  pushing 
against  the  sand. 

"  Could  I  sail  upon  a  log  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  No,"  replied  the  millman ;  "  you  'd  roll  off." 

"  How  did  you  learn  to  do  it  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Oh,  I  learned  when  I  was  a  boy,"  replied  the 
millman. 

"  Did  you  roll  off  when  you  were  learning  ? " 
asked  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  man.  "  I  've  been  off  the  log 
into  the  water  many  a  time." 

"  And  how  did  you  get  out  again  ? "  said 
Marco. 

"  Oh,  I  could  swim,"  hf  n  pli   '  •  "  n^d  as  soon 


A    RAFT,  37 

as  I  came  up,  I  would  paddle  back  to  the  log,  and 
climb  up  upon  it.  Once,  however,  I  came  very 
near  being  drowned." 

"  How  was  it  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  Why,  I  was  on  the  upper  side  of  a  boom" 

"  A  boom  ?  "  said  Marco,  "  what  is  that  ?  " 

"  A  boom  ! "  repeated  the  millman  ;  "  don't  you 
know  what  a  boom  is  ?  It  is  a  place  to  catch 
logs.  They  go  to  some  cove  or  eddy,  where  the 
water  is  pretty  still,  and  chain  logs  together,  end 
to  end,  so  as  to  form  a  long  line  on  the  lower  side 
of  the  eddy,  and  then  along  up  the  middle  of  the 
river  a  little  way,  so  as  to  enclose  a  space  to 
catch  the  logs." 

"  What  do  they  fasten  the  boom  to  ?  "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Why,  the  lower  end,"  said  the  millman,  "  is 
fastened  to  the  shore,  by  means  of  a  very  strong 
post,  or  an  iron  staple  set  into  the  rocks.  The 
other  end,  which  is  out  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  is  fastened  to  some  island,  if  there  is  one, 
or,  if  not,  to  a  pier  built  up  from  the  bottom." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  tell  on  about  your  get 
ting  in." 

"  The  boom  was  full  of  logs,  and  I  was  upon  the 
upper  side  of  it,  at  work  with  some  other  men.  I 
was  on  a  log  trying  to  find  the  mark,  and  I  fell  in." 

"  What  made  you  fall  off?"  asked  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  the  millman.  "  I  was 
not  much  use  to  logs  then.  I  was  trying  to  find 
the  mark." 

4 


38      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

"  What  mark  ? "  asked  Marco, 

"  The  owner's  mark,"  said  the  millman.  "  The 
owners  all  mark  their  logs,  when  they  get  them 
out  in  the  winter,  and  then  we  separate  or  sort 
them  in  the  booms.  Sometimes  the  mark  is  on 
the  under  side  of  the  log,  and  so  we  have  to  turn 
it  over  in  the  water  to  find  it." 

While  all  this  conversation  had  been  going  on, 
the  millman  had  been  moving  about  over  the 
water  with  the  various  logs,  Marco  accompanying 
him,  and  keeping  as  near  to  him  as  possible, 
walking  along  the  shore,  and  sometimes  on  the 
logs  which  were  resting  by  one  end  on  the  shore. 
As  the  millman  was  describing  the  system  of 
marking  the  logs,  he  was  sailing  along  very  near 
to  Marco,  and  he  immediately  began  to  turn  the 
log  over  under  him,  saying — 

"  For  instance,  look  here,  and  see  me  turn  up 
the  mark  of  this  log." 

Marco  watched  the  log,  as  it  slowly  revolved, 
until  presently  there  came  a  sort  of  hieroglyphical 
mark  upon  one  end,  made  by  crosses  and  lines 
cut  into  the  wood. 

"  Every  owner  has  his  particular  mark,"  said 
the  millman. 

"  Whose  mark  is  that  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  the  man,  "  but  they  know 
at  the  mill.  They  have  a  register  of  them  all  at 
the  mill." 

"  1  wish  I  could  turn  over  a  log,  standing  on  it, 
in  that  way,"  said  Marco. 


A    RAFT.  39 

"  You  couldn'  t,"  said  the  millman.  "  The  only 
way  by  which  you  can  sail  safely  on  logs,  would 
be  to  put  two  together,  and  make  a  sort  of  raft." 

"How?"  asked  Marco. 

"  By  nailing  short  pieces  of  boards  across  from 
one  log  to  another.  Then  they  would  not  roll." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  if  I  could  only  get  a 
hammer  and  some  nails." 

The  millman  told  him  that  perhaps  they  would 
let  him  have  a  hammer  and  some  nails  at  the 
mill :  and  Marco,  accordingly,  went  up  to  inquire. 
They  told  him  they  had  a  hammer,  but  they  had 
no  nails  to  spare.  So  Marco  failed  of  getting  the 
means  of  making  a  raft.  He  forgot  to  go  back  to 
the  millman  to  get  the  rest  of  his  story,  but,  instead 
of  it,  he  rambled  down  the  bank  of  the  river,  until 
he  came  to  a  place  where  there  was  an  old  fence, 
which  had  fallen  down,  and  the  nails  were  stick 
ing  out  of  the  boards.  He  now  wished  that  he 
had  borrowed  the  hammer  at  the  mill,  and  he  tried 
to  persuade  a  boy,  who  was  standing  there,  to  go 
and  borrow  it  for  him. 

The  boy  told  him  that  a  stone  would  do  very 
well  for  a  hammer. 

"  So  it  will,"  said  Marco ;  "  find  me  a  good 
one,  and  bring  it  to  this  old  fence." 

The  boy  brought  Marco  a  stone,  and  Marco  be 
gan  to  knock  out  the  nails.  Very  soon,  however, 
he  set  the  boy  at  work  upon  the  nails,  while  he 
went  in  pursuit  of  some  short  boards,  to  nail  across 
from  one  log  to  the  other.  He  found  some,  which 


40      MARCO   PAUL   IN    THE   FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

he  thought  would  answer,  without  much  difficulty, 
and  collected  them  together  near  the  logs  ;  and, 
soon,  afterwards,  the  boy  brought  him  the  nails. 

The  logs  were  lying  side  by  side,  with  two  ends 
resting  upon  the  shore,  the  two  other  ends  being 
out  towards  the  stream.  Marco  concluded  to  nail 
first  the  two  ends  which  were  towards  the  shore, 
they  being  nearest,  and  being  also  more  steady 
than  the  others.  He  accordingly  laid  one  of  his 
short  pieces  across,  and  nailed  it  as  well  as  he 
could,  using  the  stone  for  a  hammer. 

"  Now,"  said  he  to  the  boy,  "  I  '11  put  another 
board  across  at  the  middle,  and  one  more  at  the 
other  end,  and  then,  if  I  can  find  something  for  a 
pole,  I  '11  take  a  little  sail.  Look  about  a  little, 
my  boy,  won't  you,"  continued  he,  "  and  see  if  you 
can't  find  a  pole,  while  I  am  nailing  the  other 
boards." 

The  boy  accordingly  went  away  in  pursuit  of  a 
pole,  while  Marco  nailed  first  the  middle  board, 
and  then  the  end  one.  He  came  back  just  after 
Marco  had  got  the  first  nail  of  the  end  board 
driven  in,  and  as  soon  as  he  came  in  sight  of  the 
logs  and  of  Marco,  he  exclaimed — 

"  You  're  adrift !  you  're  adrift ! " 

Marco  got  up  immediately,  and  looked  around. 
He  was  indeed  adrift.  His  weight,  pressing  upon 
the  outer  ends  of  the  logs,  had  lifted  the  other 
ends  off  the  shore,  and  the  raft  was  slowly  floating 
up  the  stream.  The  reason  why  it  floated  up 
was,  that  there  was  at  this  place  what  they  call  an 


A    RAFT.  41 

eddy,  which  is  a  current  near  the  shore,  flowing 
up  the  stream.  Such  eddies  are  caused,  gener 
ally,  by  curves  in  the  banks. 

As  soon  as  Marco  perceived  that  he  was  afloat, 
he  said — 

"  Throw  me  the  pole." 

The  boy  threw  the  pole,  and  it  just  reached  the 
raft.  Marco  took  it  in,  and,  thrusting  the  end 
hastily  down  into  the  water,  he  endeavored  to 
push  himself  back  by  pushing  against  the  bottom. 
But  it  was  too  late.  He  had  got  already  into  such 
deep  water  that  he  could  scarcely  reach  the  bottom, 
and  he  could  not  push  the  raft  back. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  raft  slowly  moved  up  the 
river. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Marco.  "  I  'm  going  right 
for  the  mill,  and  when  I  get  there,  they'll  come 
out  for  me  in  a  boat.  In  the  mean  time,  I  'd  better 
finish  my  raft." 

So  saying,  he  kneeled  down  and  finished 
nailing  on  the  last  board.  WJien  he  rose  again, 
he  found  that  he  had  advanced  considerably,  and 
the  boy  had  accompanied  him,  walking  along  by 
the  shore.  He  perceived,  however,  that  he  was 
gradually  getting  away  from  the  shore,  and,  look 
ing  forward,  he  saw,  to  his  consternation,  that  the 
eddy  did  not  extend  to  the  mill ;  but  that,  at  a 
short  distance  above  him,  it  swept  out  into  the 
main  current  of  the  river,  which  was  running  by 
a  point  of  land  at  the  upper  part  of  the  eddy,  with 
great  speed.  The  raft  advanced  slowly  till  it 


42      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

came  to  this  current,  when  it  turned  around,  and 
began  to  glide  swiftly  down  the  stream. 

"  Boy,"  cried  Marco,  in  great  distress,  "  run  to 
the  mill  as  fast  as  you  can  go,  and  tell  them  that  I 
have  gone  down  the  river,  adrift.  Tell  them  to 
send  a  boat  after  me  as  quick  as  they  can.  My 
cousin  Forester  will  pay  them  well." 

So  the  boy  ran  off  towards  the  mill,  while 
Marco  floated  away  helplessly  down  the  current. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE   DESERT   ISLAND. 

AFTER  Marco  had  sailed  on  for  a  few  minutes, 
he  cast  his  eyes  up  the  river,  and  saw  the  steam 
boat.  She  was  still  lying  in  an  inclined  position, 
as  she  had  been  left  grounded  by  the  tide.  He 
shouted  and  waved  his  hat,  in  the  endeavor  to  at 
tract  the  attention  of  the  people  on  board,  and  lead 
them  to  send  a  boat  to  rescue  him.  But  all  his 
efforts  were  vain.  He  could  not  make  them  hear. 

The  current  soon  bore  him  beyond  a  point  of 
land  which  hid  the  steamboat  from  his  view,  and 
he  began  to  fear  that  he  should  be  actually  carried 
out  to  sea.  He  was  calculating,  in  fact,  how  many 
miles  it  was  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  when  it 
suddenly  occurred  to  him  that,  though  he  could 
not  push  with  his  pole,  he  might  perhaps  paddle 
with  it.  He  accordingly  took  up  the  pole,  which 
he  had  laid  down  upon  the  raft,  and  began  to  use 
it  as  a  paddle. 

Marco  found,  to  his  great  relief,  that  he  could 
produce  considerable  effect  upon  his  raft  by  using 
his  pole  as  a  paddle.  He  contrived  to  get  the  head 
of  his  raft  round  towards  the  shore,  and,  by  work- 


44      MARCO   PAUL    IN   THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

ing  hard,  lie  succeeded  in  urging  it  along  through 
the  current,  very  slowly,  indeed,  but  still  percepti 
bly,  so  that  he  began  to  have  some  hope  that  he 
might  succeed  in  reaching  land. 

Before  he  had  made  much  progress,  however, 
he  suddenly  saw  before  him,  at  a  short  distance, 
a  little  rocky  island,  with  some  grass  and  a  few 
trees  on  the  lower  end  of  it.  The  island  was  very 
small,  being  not  much  longer  than  Marco's  raft. 
It  lay  almost  directly  in  his  course — so  nearly, 
that  he  perceived  that  by  working  a  little  more 
with  his  pole,  he  thought  he  could  bring  himself 
into  such  a  position  as  to  be  thrown  by  the  current 
directly  upon  it. 

This  he  did.  He  paddled,  with  all  his  strength, 
to  get  into  a  line  with  the  upper  end  of  the  island, 
the  current,  all  the  time,  bearing  him  down  di 
rectly  towards  it.  In  a  few  minutes,  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  that  he  was  going  directly 
upon  it. 

"All  right,"  said  he  to  himself;  "now  I'm 
safe." 

As  he  said  these  words,  the  end  of  the  raft 
struck  the  rock,  and  he  leaped  off  upon  it.  The 
raft  swung  round,  and  was  going  away,  but 
Marco  seized  it,  and  dragged  it  up  a  little  way 
upon  the  shore,  so  as  to  secure  it.  He  then  sat 
down  upon  the  rock,  and  began  to  consider  what 
was  next  to  be  done. 

He  was  certainly  at  a  loss  to  know  what  was 
to  be  done.  He  waited  an  hour,  and  then,  getting 


THE    DESERT   ISLAND.  45 

very  tired  of  his  situation,  he  began  to  consider 
whether  it  would  not  be  best  for  him  to  entrust 
himself  once  more  to  his  raft,  and  endeavor  to  get 
to  the  shore  by  means  of  his  paddle. 

While  he  was  sitting  on  a  point  of  the  rock,  in 
this  perplexity,  looking  towards  the  shore  that  was 
nearest  to  him,  he  suddenly  saw  a  boy  coming 
upon  a  horse,  along  a  winding  road,  which  led  to 
the  river.  He  was  driving  the  horse  down  to 
water.  The  horse  advanced  to  the  brink  of  the 
river,  when  Marco  began  to  call  out  in  his  loudest 
voice, 

"  Halloo ! " 

"  Halloo  !  "  answered  the  boy. 

"  Can't  you  get  a  boat,  and  come  and  take  me  off 
this  island  ? "  cried  Marco. 

The  boy  paused  a  moment,  and  gazed  earnestly 
at  Marco,  while  the  horse  continued  drinking. 

"  How  came  you  on  that  island  ? "  said  the  boy, 
calling  out  again  in  a  loud  voice. 

"  I  got  adrift  on  some  logs,"  said  Marco,  "  and 
floated  down  the  river.  Can't  you  get  a  boat,  and 
come  and  take  me  off?" 

"  I  have  not  got  any  boat,"  said  the  boy. 
"  There  an't  any  boats  about  here." 

"  I  wish  you  would  go  and  get  one,"  said  Marco. 
"I'll pay  you  well  for  it." 

The  boy  did  not  answer.  He  seemed  to  be 
hesitating.  In  the  mean  time,  the  horse,  having 
nearly  finished  his  drinking,  lifted  up  his  head  and 
looked  at  Marco. 


46      MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS   OF    MAINE. 

"  There  is  not  any  boat  within  a  mile,"  said  the 
boy.  "  But  I  should  think  you  might  wade 
ashore.  The  water  is  not  deep  between  here  and 
the  island." 

"  Then  wade  out  here  with  your  horse,"  said 
Marco,  "  and  take  me  on  behind  you." 

The  boy  hesitated  a  moment,  but  he  finally 
decided  to  comply  with  Marco's  proposal,  and 
accordingly  began  to  advance  his  horse  into  the 
water.  Marco  watched  his  progress  with  intense 
interest.  As  the  water  grew  deeper,  he  began  to 
fear  that  the  boy  would  get  discouraged,  and  turn 
back.  But  the  boy  kept  on.  He  turned  his  steps 
somewhat  below  the  island,  where  there  was  an 
extensive  shoal ;  the  water  grew  shallower  and 
shallower,  until  at  last  the  horse  emerged  entirely, 
and  stood  upon  a  little  dry  sand  bank  at  the  lower 
side  of  the  island. 

"  I  'm  very  much  obliged  to  you,  indeed,"  said 
Marco,  "  for  coming  for  me — besides  the  pay.  I 
will  pay  you  for  it  as  soon  as  we  get  on  shore." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  don't  need  any  pay 
just  for  wading  my  horse  out  here.  I  wade  him 
out  here  very  often,  when  I  come  down  to  water ; 
that  is,  in  the  summer,  when  the  water  is  low." 

Marco  mounted  behind  the  boy,  and  the  boy 
turned  his  horse's  head  towards  the  shore. 

"  How  far  is  it  back  to  the  mill  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  To  the  steam  mill  ? — four  miles,"  answered 
the  boy. 

"  Four  miles  ! "  exclaimed  Marco  ;  "  is  it  possi- 


THE    DESERT    ISLAND.  47 

ble  that  I  have  floated  down  four  miles  ?     How 
shall  1  ever  get  back  again  ?  " 

"  How  did  you  happen  to  get  adrift  ?  "  asked 
the  boy. 

Marco  proceeded  to  give  the  boy  an  account  of 
his  getting  adrift,  but  in  a  short  time  the  water 
began  to  grow  so  deep  that  he  was  afraid.  The 
boy,  however,  told  him  that  there  was  no  danger. 
The  bottom  of  the  river,  at  this  place,  was  a  great 
bed  of  pebble  stones,  and  the  current  ran  very 
swiftly  over  them,  and  curled  in  sharp  ripples 
about  the  horse's  legs.  Presently,  however,  the 
water  became  more  shallow,  and  they  soon  safely 
reached  the  shore. 

"  Now,"  said  Marco,  "  I  want  to  get  back  to  the 
mill  just  as  quick  as  I  can — before  the  steamboat 
goes." 

"  The  steamboat  ?  "  said  the  boy, "  she  has  gone 
long  ago.  She  went  by  early  this  morning." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  she  went  by  here,  but  she 
got  stopped." 

So  Marco  told  the  boy  the  story  of  their  having 
got  aground,  and  of  his  going  ashore ;  and  of  all 
his  adventures,  in  fact,  down  to  the  time  of  Lis 
being  cast  upon  the  desert  island.  The  boy  told 
him  that  he  had  better  make  haste ;  "  for,"  said 
he,  "  the  tide  has  risen  a  great  deal  already. 
When  the  tide  is  at  the  lowest,  we  can  go  out  to 
that  island  almost  on  bare  ground." 

"  But  I  can't  walk  back  four  miles,"  said  Marco. 
"  Could  you  not  carry  me  in  a  wagon  ?  "  he  con 
tinued. 


48      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

"  We  have  got  a  wagon,"  said  the  boy,  "  if  mj 
father  will  let  me  go." 

"  Let  us  go  right  up  and  ask  him,"  said  Marco 

They  accordingly  began  to  advance  up  the  roadj 
the  boy  putting  his  horse  to  a  rapid  trot.  Marco, 
who  was  not  accustomed  to  riding  in  this  style — 
behind  another  boy,  and  without  a  saddle — was 
much  jolted,  and,  in  fact,  he  found  it  very  difficult 
to  keep  his  seat.  He  began  to  feel  so  much 
anxiety,  however,  about  getting  back  again,  that 
he  did  not  complain.  In  a  short  time,  the  boy 
reached  the  house.  It  was  a  small,  plain  farm 
house.  There  was  a  shed  at  one  side  of  it,  with 
a  wagon  standing  in  the  shed — the  shafts  resting 
upon  a  wood-pile. 

"  My  father  is  not  at  home,  now,"  said  the  boy, 
"  but  he  will  be  at  home  very  soon." 

"  Oh,  don't  let  us  wait  for  him,"  rejoined  Marco. 
"  He  '11  be  willing  to  have  you  go,  I  know." 

"  No,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  should  not  dare  to  go 
without  his  leave." 

"  Let  us  harness  the  horse  into  the  wagon,  then, 
at  any  rate,"  said  Marco,  "  and  then  we  shall  be 
all  ready." 

"  We  can  do  that,"  said  the  boy. 

So  they  harnessed  the  horse  into  the  wagon, 
and  the  boy  led  the  horse  around  to  the  door. 
Marco,  who  was  quite  impatient  to  go,  got  into 
the  wagon,  and  sat  waiting.  The  man  came  in 
about  twenty  minutes,  and  when  he  heard  a  state 
ment  of  the  case,  he  said  that  his  boy  might  go  and 
take  Marco  back  to  the  mill. 


THE    DESERT   ISLAND.  49 

It  was  now  so  late  that  Marco  began  to  be  seri 
ously  afraid  that  the  steamboat  might  have  gone. 
He  was  very  impatient  to  have  the  horse  go  as  fast 
as  possible ;  and  he  watched  at  every  turn  in  the 
road  which  gave  him  a  view  of  the  river,  hoping 
to  get  a  glimpse  at  the  boat.  He  wondered 
whether  Forester  was  still  at  the  tavern,  or  whether 
he  had  come  out  in  pursuit  of  him.  After  weary 
ing  himself  with  conjectures,  which  were  all  in 
vain,  he  suddenly  came  to  a  view  of  the  river  op 
posite  the  mill.  The  steamboat,  to  his  great  joy, 
was  in  its  place  ;  but  there  was  a  black  column  of 
smoke  issuing  from  the  smoke-pipe. 

"  They  are  firing  up,"  said  Marco,  "  I  verily 
believe." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  "  said  the  boy. 

"  Why,  building  up  the  fires,"  said  Marco,  "  to 
set  the  engine  a-going.  They  call  it  firing  up." 

Just  at  this  moment  there  broke  forth  a  loud 
and  hoarse  hissing  from  the  steam-pipe,  and  a  dense 
column  of  white  vapor  began  to  ascend,  which 
mingled  its  snowy  volumes,  in  a  beautiful  manner, 
with  the  dark  masses  of  the  smoke. 

"  They  are  blowing  off  the  steam,"  said  Marco. 

"  What  does  that  mean  ?  "  asked  the  boy. 

"  Why,  that  they  have  got  the  steam  up,  and 
are  letting  off  a  little  of  it,  while  they  are  waiting 
for  something.  Perhaps  they  are  waiting  for  us. 
Drive  on  as  fast  as  you  can." 

A  moment  after  this,  the  sound  of  the  steam 
5 


50      MARCO   PAUL   IN   THE   FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

suddenly  ceased,  and  the  great  paddle  wheels,  on 
the  sides  of  the  boat,  began  slowly  to  revolve. 

"  They  are  trying  to  get  her  off,"  said  Marco. 
"  I  do  hope  they  can't  start  her.  Drive  on  ;  drive 
on  as  fast  as  you  can." 

They  were,  at  this  time,  upon  the  top  of  a  hill 
which  commanded  a  fine  view  of  the  river,  and  of 
the  scenery  upon  its  banks.  The  mill  was  be 
fore  them,  too,  in  full  view.  But  Marco  was  too 
much  engaged  in  watching  the  movements  of  the 
boat  to  regard  the  scenery.  The  boy  drove  rapidly 
down  the  hill.  They  reached  the  mill  in  a  very 
few  minutes,  and  drove  down  to  the  bank  of  the 
river,  by  a  road  which  led  to  the  water,  a  short  dis 
tance  above  the  mill.  But,  in  the  mean  time,  un 
fortunately  for  Marco,  the  steamboat  had  regained 
its  liberty,  and  when  Marco  and  the  boy  came  in 
view  of  it  again,  as  their  horse  stopped  at  the  edge 
of  the  water,  they  saw,  to  Marco's  dismay,  that  she 
was  ploughing  her  way  swiftly  up  the  river,  being 
just  about  to  disappear  behind  a  point  of  land 
which  terminated  the  view  of  the  water  in  that 
direction. 

"  They  are  gone,"  said  Marco,  in  a  tone  of 
despair,  "  they  are  gone  ;  and  what  shall  I  do  ?" 

"  Can't  you  go  in  the  stage  ?  "  asked  the  boy, 
hoping  thus  to  say  a  word  of  encouragement  and 
consolation. 

"  No,"  said  Marco,  "  I  don't  believe  there  is  any 
stage  from  this  old  mill.  Besides,  I  don't  know 


THE   DESERT   ISLAND.  51 

where  to  go.  I  should  not  have  thought  that  For 
ester  would  have  gone  off  and  left  me." 

"  Was  he  on  board  the  steamboat  ?  "  asked  the 
boy. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco — "  that  is,  he  was  to  go  on 
board — but  I  left  him  at  the  tavern." 

"  Perhaps  he  is  there  now,"  said  the  boy.  "  Let 
us  go  and  see." 

Marco  approved  of  this  plan,  and  they  turned 
the  wagon,  and  rode  towards  the  tavern.  As  soon 
as  the  horse  stopped  in  the  yard,  Marco  leaped  out 
of  the  wagon,  and  ran  in.  He  found  Forester  re 
clining  upon  the  sofa,  where  Marco  had  left  him, 
asleep. 

Marco  advanced  towards  him,  and  took  him  by 
the  shoulder,  roughly,  to  wake  him  up,  saying, 

"  Forester !  cousin  Forester  !  wake  up !  the  boat 
has  gone." 

Forester  opened  his  eyes — looked  wildly  at 
Marco,  and  then  put  his  hands  to  his  head,  press 
ing  his  temples  with  the  palms,  but  he  did  not 


"  The  boat  has  gone,  cousin  Forester,"  contin 
ued  Marco. 

•  "  Then  what  good  does  it  do  to  wake  me  up  so 
roughly  ?  "  asked  Forester. 

"  Why — I — thought  you  'd  want  to  know  it," 
said  Marco  ;  "  but  why  did  not  you  come  down  ?" 

"  Because,"  said  Forester,  "  you  were  to  come 
and  tell  me,  I  thought,  when  they  were  ready  to 
So-" 


52      MARCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

Marco  had  no  reply  to  make  to  this  suggestion, 
and  he  was  silent.  He  found,  afterwards,  on  far 
ther  conversation  with  Forester,  that  he  was  quite 
unwell.  His  head  ached,  and  his  face  was  flushed, 
as  if  he  was  feverish.  Marco  related  to  For 
ester  an  account  of  his  adventures  on  the  raft  of 
logs.  Forester  thought  that  he  had  had  a  very 
narrow  escape. 

Marco  expected  that  Forester  would  have  re 
buked  him  very  sharply  for  his  fault  in  going  upon 
the  logs  at  all.  But  he  did  not.  After  Marco  had 
got  through  with  his  account,  Forester  only  said, 

"  Well,  Marco,  you  evidently  did  wrong  in  get 
ting  upon  the  logs  at  all ;  but  the  evil  consequen 
ces  to  you  will  be  punishment  enough,  and,  in  fact, 
more  than  enough." 

"  Evil  consequences  ? "  said  Marco — "  no ;  there 
are  no  evil  consequences,  only  that  we  have  got 
left  behind." 

"  I  don't  regard  that,"  said  Forester,  "  for  I  am 
too  unwell  to  travel  to-day ;  but  then  you  have 
suffered  considerable  pain  and  anxiety  already, 
and,  besides,  there  will  be  some  money  to  pay." 

"  What  for  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Why,  you  have  got  to  pay  the  boy  for  bring 
ing  you  home,"  replied  Forester. 

"  Must  I  pay  him,"  said  Marco,  "  out  of  my 
own  money  ? " 

"  Who  do  you  think  ought  to  pay  him  ?  "  said 
Forester. 

"  Why,  I  ought   to,  I  suppose,"   said  Marco. 


THE    DESERT   ISLAND.  53 

"  But  it  won't  be  much.  I  think  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  will  be  enough." 

"  Then,  did  not  you  say  that  you  sent  to  the  mill 
to  have  somebody  go  down  after  you  in  a  boat?" 
asked  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  but  I  don't  think  they 
went." 

"  You  had  better  go  to  the  mill  and  see,"  said 
Forester. 

So  Marco  went  out  and  paid  the  boy  a  quarter 
of  a  dollar,  with  which  he  seemed  to  be  satisfied. 
Then  he  went  to  the  mill,  and  he  found  two  men 
just  returning,  in  a  boat,  from  a  long  pull  down 
the  river  in  pursuit  of  him.  Marco  paid  them 
half  a  dollar.  Thus  his  loss  was  three  quarters  of 
a  dollar. 

When  he  returned  to  the  tavern,  he  found  that 
Forester  had  taken  some  medicine,  and  had  gone  to 
bed.  Forester  told  him  that  he  must  amuse  him 
self  the  best  way  he  could,  and  that,  after  the  expe 
rience  that  he  had  had  that  day,  he  hoped  he  would 
be  careful  not  to  put  himself  any  more  into  danger 
ous  situations. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE    BENEFIT    OF    THE    DOUBT. 

MARCO  took  dinner  that  day  at  the  tavern 
alone,  and,  after  dinner,  he  carried  a  cup  of  tea  to 
Forester, — but  Forester  was  asleep,  and  so  he  did 
not  disturb  him. 

In  the  afternoon  lie  went  out  to  play.  He 
amused  himself,  for  half  an  hour,  in  rambling 
about  the  tavern  yards  and  in  the  stables.  There 
was  a  ferocious-looking  bull  in  one  of  the  yards, 
chained  to  a  post,  by  means  of  a  ring  through  his 
nose.  Marco  looked  at  the  bull  a  few  minutes 
with  great  interest,  and  then  began  to  look  about 
for  a  long  stick,  or  a  pole,  to  poke  him  a  little, 
through  the  fence,  to  see  if  he  could  not  make  him 
roar,  when,  instead  of  a  pole,  his  eye  fell  upon  a 
boy,  who  was  at  work,  digging  in  a  corner  of  a 
field  near,  behind  the  barn. 

The  boy's  name  was  Jeremiah.  He  was  dig 
ging  for  worms  for  bait.  He  was  going  a  fishing. 
Marco  determined  to  go  with  him. 

Jeremiah  furnished  Marco  with  a  hook  and  a 
piece  of  sheet  lead  to  make  a  sinker  of,  and  Marco 
had  some  twine  in  his  pocket  already  ;  so  that  he 


THE    BENEFIT    OF    THE    DOUBT.  55 

was  soon  fitted  with  a  line.  But  he  had  no  pole. 
Jeremiah  said  that  he  could  cut  one,  on  his  way 
down  to  the  river,  as  they  would  pass  through  a 
piece  of  woods  which  had  plenty  of  tall  and  slender 
young  trees  in  it. 

He  succeeded  in  getting  a  pole  in  this  manner, 
which  answered  very  well;  and  then  he  and 
Jeremiah  went  down  to  the  river.  They  stood 
upon  a  log  on  the  shore,  and  caught  several  small 
fishes,  but  they  got  none  of  much  value,  for  nearly 
half  an  hour.  At  last,  Jeremiah,  who  was  stand 
ing  at  a  little  distance  from  Marco,  suddenly 
exclaimed  : 

"  Oh,  here  comes  a  monstrous  great  perch.  He 
is  coming  directly  towards  my  hook." 

"Where?  where?"  exclaimed  Marco.  And 
Marco  immediately  drew  out  his  hook  from  the 
place  where  he  had  been  fishing,  and  walked  along 
to  the  log  on  which  Jeremiah  was  standing. 

"  Where  is  he  ? "  said  Marco,  looking  eagerly 
into  the  water. 

"Hush!"  said  Jeremiah;  "don't  say  a  word. 
There  he  is,  swimming  along  towards  my  hook." 

"Yes,"  said  Marco,  "I  see  him.  Now  he's 
turning  away  a  little.  Let  me  put  my  line  in, 
too." 

Marco  extended  his  pole  and  dropped  his  hook 
gently  into  the  water.  He  let  it  down  until  it  was 
near  the  perch.  The  poor  fish,  after  loitering 
about  a  minute,  gradually  approached  Marco's 
hook  and  bit  at  it. 


56       MARCO   PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

Jeremiah,  seeing  that  he  was  in  danger  of  losing 
his  fish,  now  called  out  to  Marco  to  take  his  line 
out.  "  It  is  not  fair,"  said  he,  "  for  you  to  come 
and  take  my  fish,  just  as  he  was  going  to  bite  at 
my  hook.  Go  away." 

Bat  it  was  too  late.  As  Jeremiah  was  saying 
these  words,  the  fish  bit,  and  Marco,  drawing  up 
the  line,  found  the  fish  upon  the  end  of  it.  As  the 
line  came  in,  however,  Jeremiah  reached  out  his 
hand  to  seize  the  fish,  and  Marco,  to  prevent  him, 
dropped  the  pole  and  endeavored  to  seize  it  too. 

"  Let  go  my  fish,"  said  Jeremiah. 

"  Let  alone  my  line,"  said  Marco. 

Neither  would  let  go.  A  struggle  ensued,  and 
Marco  and  Jeremiah,  in  the  midst  of  it,  fell  off'  into 
the  water.  The  water  was  not  very  deep,  and 
they  soon  clambered  up  upon  the  log  again,  but 
the  fish,  which  had  been  pulled  off  the  line  in  the 
contention,  fell  into  the  water,  and  swam  swiftly 
away  into  the  deep  and  dark  parts  of  the  water, 
and  was  seen  no  more.  He  was  saved  by  the 
quarrels  of  his  enemies. 

Marco,  who  was  not  so  much  accustomed  to  a 
wetting  as  Jeremiah  was,  became  very  angry,  and 
immediately  set  off  to  go  home  to  the  tavern. 
Jeremiah  coolly  resumed  his  position  on  the  log, 
and  went  to  fishing  again,  paying  no  heed  to 
Marco's  expressions  of  resentment. 

Marco  walked  along,  very  uncomfortable  both 
in  body  and  mind.  His  clothes  were  wet  and 
muddy,  and  the  water  in  his  shoes  made  a  chuck- 


THE    BENEFIT   OF    THE    DOUBT.  57 

ling  sound  at  every  step,  until  he  stopped  and  took 
his  shoes  off,  and  poured  the  water  out.  It  was 
nearly  sunset  when  he  reached  the  tavern.  He 
found  Forester  better.  He  had  left  his  bed,  and 
had  come  down  into  the  parlor.  He  was  reclining 
on  the  sofa,  reading  a  book,  when  Marco  came  in. 

Marco  advanced  towards  him,  and  began  to 
make  bitter  complaints  against  Jeremiah.  In 
giving  an  account  of  the  affair,  he  omitted  all  that 
part  of  the  transaction  which  made  against  him 
self.  He  said  nothing,  for  instance,  about  his 
coming  to  put  his  line  in  where  Jeremiah  was 
fishing,  and  while  a  fish  was  actually  near  Jere 
miah's  hook,  but  only  said  that  he  caught  a  fish, 
and  that  Jeremiah  came  and  took  it  away. 

"  But  what  claim  had  Jeremiah  to  the  fish  ? " 
asked  Forester. 

"  He  had  no  claim  at  all,"  said  Marco. 

"You  mean,  he  had  no  right  at  all,"  said 
Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco. 

"  He  had  a  claim,  certainly,"  rejoined  Forester ; 
"  that  is,  he  claimed  the  fish.  He  pretended  that 
it  was  his.  Now,  on  what  was  this  claim  or  pre 
tence  founded  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Marco,  "  I  am  sure.  I 
only  know  he  had  no  right  to  it,  for  I  caught  the 
fish  myself,  and  he  was  going  to  take  it  away." 

Forester  paused  a  moment,  and  then  resumed  : 

"  I  don't  think  that  you  have  given  me  a  full  and 
fair  account  of  the  transaction ;  for  I  cannot  believe 


58     MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

that  Jeremiah  would  have  come  and  taken  away 
the  fish  without  any  pretext  whatever.  You 
must  have  omitted  some  important  part  of  the 
account,  I  think." 

Marco  then  told  Forester  that  Jeremiah  said 
that  the  fish  was  just  going  to  bite  at  his  hook ;  and, 
after  several  other  questions  from  Forester,  he 
gradually  acknowledged  the  whole  truth.  Still, 
he  maintained  that  it  was  his  fish.  He  had  a 
right  to  put  in  his  line,  he  said,  wherever  he 
pleased,  whether  another  boy  was  fishing  or  not ; 
the  fish  belonged  to  the  one  who  caught  him ;  and, 
before  he  was  caught,  he  did  not  belong  to  any 
body.  It  was  absurd,  he  maintained,  to  suppose 
that  the  fish  became  Jeremiah's,  just  because  he 
was  swimming  near  his  hook. 

"  Sometimes  one  can  judge  better  of  a  case," 
said  Forester,  "  by  reversing  the  condition  of  the 
parties.  Suppose  that  you  had  been  fishing,  and 
a  large  fish  had  come  swimming  about  your  hook, 
and  that  Jeremiah  had  then  come  to  put  his  hook 
in  at  the  same  place,  should  you  have  thought  it 
right?" 

"  Why,  I  don't  know,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  is  doubtful.  Now,  it  is  an  excellent  rule," 
continued  Forester,  "  in  all  questions  of  right 
between  ourselves  and  other  persons,  for  us  to  give 
them  the  benefit  of  the  doubt" 

"  What  does  that  mean  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  if  a  man  is  tried  in  a  court  for  any 
crime,"  replied  Forester,  "  if  it  is  clearly  proved 


THE    BENEFIT    OF    THE    DOUBT.  59 

that  he  is  innocent,  of  course  he  goes  free.  If  it 
is  clearly  proved  that  he  is  guilty,  he  is  convicted. 
But  if  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  can  be  proved, 
that  is,  if  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  is  innocent  or 
guilty,  they  give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  as 
they  term  it,  and  let  him  go  free." 

"  I  should  think  that,  when  it  is  doubtful,"  said 
Marco,  "  they  ought  to  send  him  back  to  prison 
again  till  they  can  find  out  certainly." 

"No,"  said  Forester,  "the  jury  are  directed  to 
acquit  him,  unless  it  is  positively  proved  that  he  is 
guilty.  So  that,  if  they  think  it  is  doubtful,  they 
give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  let  him  go 
free.  Now,  in  all  questions  of  property  between 
ourselves  and  others,  we  should  all  be  willing  to 
give  to  others  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  then 
the  disputes  would  be  very  easily  settled,  or  rather, 
disputes  would  never  arise.  In  this  case,  for 
instance,  it  is  doubtful  whether  you  had  a  right  to 
come  and  interfere  while  the  fish  was  near  his 
hook ;  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  did  or  did  not 
have  a  sort  of  right  to  try  to  catch  the  fish,  without 
your  interfering ;  and  you  ought  to  have  been 
willing  to  have  given  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt, 
and  so  have  staid  away,  or  have  given  up  the  fish 
to  him  after  you  had  caught  it." 

"  But  I  don't  see,"  said  Marco,  "  why  he  should 
not  have  been  willing  to  have  given  me  the  benefit 
of  the  doubt,  as  well  as  I  to  have  given  it  to 
him." 

"  Certainly,"  said  Forester ;  "  Jeremiah  ought 


60      MARCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

to  have  considered  that  there  was  a  doubt  whether 
he  was  entitled  to  the  fish  or  not,  and  to  have  been 
willing  to  have  given  you  the  benefit  of  the  doubt ; 
and  so  have  let  you  kept  the  fish.  Each,  in  such  a 
case,  ought  to  be  willing  to  give  up  to  the  other." 

"  And  then  which  of  us  should  have  it  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Why,  it  generally  happens,"  said  Forester,  in 
reply,  "  that  only  one  of  the  parties  adopts  this 
principle,  and  so  he  yields  to  the  other ;  but  if  both 
adopt  it,  then  there  is  sometimes  a  little  discussion, 
each  insisting  on  giving  up  to  the  other.  But  such 
a  dispute  is  a  friendly  dispute,  not  a  hostile  one, 
and  it  is  very  easily  settled." 

"  A  friendly  dispute  !  "  exclaimed  Marco  ;  "  I 
never  heard  of  such  a  thing." 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester.  "  Suppose,  for  instance, 
that,  when  you  had  caught  your  fish,  you  had  said, 
'  There,  Jeremiah,  that  fish  is  yours ;  he  was 
coming  up  to  your  hook,  and  would  have  bitten  at 
it  if  I  had  not  put  my  line  in ;'  and,  then,  if 
Jeremiah  had  said,  '  No,  it  is  not  mine ;  it  is 
yours,  for  you  caught  it  with  your  hook  ;'  this 
would  have  been  a  friendly  dispute.  It  would 
have  been  very  easily  settled." 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  left  my  pole  down  at  the 
river,"  said  Marco.  "  I  cut  a  most  excellent  pole 
in  the  woods,  on  my  way  down,  and  I  left  it  there 
across  the  log.  I  mean  to  go  down  and  get  it 
early  in  the  morning." 


THE    BENEFIT    OF    THE    DOUBT.  61 

"  No,"  said  Forester ;  "  we  must  be  on  our  way 
up  the. river  early  to-morrow  morning." 

"  How  shall  we  go  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  have  engaged  a  wagon  here  to  take  us  to 
Bath,  and  there  we  shall  find  a  stage." 

Accordingly,  early  the  next  morning,  Forester 
and  Marco  got  into  a  wagon  to  go  up  the  river  to 
Bath,  which  is  the  first  town  of  any  considerable 
consequence  which  you  meet  in  ascending  the 
Kennebec  river.  Marco  and  Forester  sat  on  the 
seat  of  the  wagon,  and  a  boy,  who  was  going  with 
them  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  wagon  back, 
sat  behind,  on  a  box,  which  had  been  put  in  to 
make  a  seat  for  him. 

Marco  said  that  he  was  very  sorry  that  he  had 
not  time  to  go  and  get  his  fishing-pole. 

"  It  would  not  do  any  good,"  said  Forester,  "  for 
you  could  not  carry  it." 

"  Why,  yes,"  said  Marco,  "  we  might  put  it  on 
the  bottom  of  the  wagon,  and  let  the  end  run  out 
behind.  It  is  pretty  long." 

"  True,"  said  Forester,  "  we  might  possibly  get 
it  to  Bath,  but  what  should  we  do  with  it  then  ? " 

"  Why,  then,"  said  Marco,  "  we  might  put  it  on 
the  top  of  the  stage,  I  suppose.  Would  not  they 
let  us?" 

"  It  would  not  be  very  convenient  to  carry  a  long 

fishing-pole,    in    that   way,    to   Quebec,"   replied 

Forester,  "  through  woods,  too,  half  of  the  way, 

full  of  such  poles.     You  might  stop  and  get  a  cane 

6 


62      MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

or  staff,  if  we  find  a  place  where  there  are  some 
good  ones.  A  cane  would  be  of  some  service  to 
you  in  walking  up  the  hills,  and  that  could  be 
taken  along  with  our  baggage  easily." 

Marco  said  that  he  should  like  this  plan  very 
much ;  and,  as  they  rode  along,  they  looked  out 
carefully  for  a  place  where  there  were  slender 
saplings  growing,  suitable  for  canes. 

"  What  kind  of  wood  would  you  have  ? "  asked 
Forester. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Marco ;  "  which  kind  is 
the  best?" 

"  The  different  woods  have  different  qualities," 
replied  Forester.  "  Some  are  light  and  soft, 
which  are  good  qualities  for  certain  purposes. 
Some  are  hard.  Some  are  stiff,  and  some  flexible. 
Some  are  brittle,  and  others  tough.  For  a  cane, 
now,  do  we  want  a  hard  wood  or  a  soft  one  ?  " 

"  Hard,"  said  Marco. 

"Why?"  asked  Forester. 

"  Oh,  so  that  it  shall  not  get  indented  or  bruised 
easily,"  replied  Marco. 

"  A  light  wood  or  a  heavy  one  ?  "  asked  Forester. 

"  Light,"  replied  Marco,  "  so  that  it  will  be  easy 
to  carry." 

"  Stiff  or  flexible  ?"  asked  Forester. 

"  Stiff,"  replied  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester.  "  Some  kinds  of  wood 
grow  straight,  and  others  crooked." 

"  We  want  it  straight,"  said  Marco. 


THE    BENEFIT   OF    THE    DOUBT.  63 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester.  "  The  pine  grows 
very  straight.  If  we  could  find  some  young 
pines,  they  would  make  us  some  beautiful-looking 
canes." 

"  And  how  is  it  with  the  other  qualities  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Pine  is  very  light,"  said  Forester. 

"  That  is  good,"  said  Marco. 

"  And  soft,"  said  Forester. 

"  That  is  not  so  well,"  said  Marco. 

"  And  it  is  very  weak  and  brittle." 

"  Then  it  will  not  do  at  all,"  said  Marco.  "  I 
want  a  good  strong  cane." 

Just  at  this  time,  they  were  ascending  a  hill, 
and,  after  passing  over  the  summit  of  it,  they  came 
o  a  place  where  Forester  said  he  saw,  in  the 
woods,  a  number  of  young  oaks  and  beeches, 
which,  he  said,  would  make  good  canes.  The 
oak,  he  said,  was  very  strong,  and  hard,  and  tough  ; 
so  was  the  beech. 

"  Only  there  are  two  objections  to  them  for 
canes,"  said  Forester,  as  they  were  getting  out  of 
the  wagon  ;  "  they  are  not  so  light  as  the  pine,  and 
then,  besides,  they  are  apt  to  grow  crooked. 
We  must  look  about  carefully  to  find  some  that 
are  straight." 

"  Which  is  the  most  valuable  of  all  the  kinds  of 
wood  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  The  question  is  ambiguous,"  said  Forester. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? "  asked  Marco. 


64      MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

"  I  mean,  that  it  has  two  significations,"  replied 
Forester ;  "  that  is,  the  word  valuable  has  two 
significations.  Pine  is  the  most  valuable  in  one 
sense ;  that  is,  pine  is,  on  the  whole,  most  useful 
to  mankind.  But  there  are  other  kinds  of  wood 
which  are  far  more  costly." 

"  I  should  not  think  that  pine  would  be  so 
valuable,"  said  Marco,  "  it  is  so  weak  and  brittle." 

"  It  is  valuable,"  said  Forester,  "  because,  for 
the  purpose  for  which  men  want  the  greatest 
quantities  of  wood,  strength  is  not  required.  For 
boarding  the  outsides  of  buildings,  for  example, 
and  finishing  them  within,  which  uses,  perhaps, 
consume  more  wood  than  all  others  put  together, 
no  great  strength  is  required." 

"  I  think  people  want  more  wood  to  burn  than 
to  build  houses  with,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  perhaps  they  do.  They 
do  in  this  country,  I  think,  but  perhaps  not  in  Eu 
rope  and  other  old  countries.  But  pine,  although 
it  has  no  great  strength,  is  an  excellent  wood  for 
building,  it  is  so  soft  and  easily  worked." 

Forester's  remarks,  upon  the  different  kinds  of 
wood,  were  here  interrupted  by  Marco's  finding 
what  he  considered  an  excellent  stick  for  a  cane. 
When  he  had  cut  it,  however,  he  found  that  it  was 
not  so  straight  as  it  had  appeared  to  be  while 
growing. 

However,  after  some  time  spent  in  the  selection, 
Marco  and  Forester  both  procured  excellent  canes. 


THE    BENEFIT   OF    THE    DOUBT.  65 

"  This  is  good,  hard  wood,"  said  Marco,  as  he 
was  trimming  his  cane,  and  cutting  it  to  a  proper 
length. 


"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  it  is  beech,  and  beech 
is  very  hard." 

After  finishing  their  canes,  they  took  their  seats 
in  the  wagon  again. 

6* 


CHAPTER  VI. 
EBONY    AND    PINE. 

AFTER  riding  along  a  short  distance  in  silence, 
Marco  introduced  the  subject  of  the  different  woods 
once  more.  He  asked  Forester  which  was  the 
most  costly  of  all  the  woods. 

"  Costly  is  not  an  ambiguous  term,"  said  For 
ester  ;  "  that  means,  which  has  the  greatest  money 
value." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco.  "  I  suppose  it  is  mahogany." 

"  0  no,"  said  Forester. 

"  Rose  wood,  then,"  said  Marco.  "  It  must  be 
rose  wood.  My  mother  has  a  beautiful  piano 
made  of  rose  wood." 

"  No,"  said  Forester.  "  Ebony  is  more  costly 
than  either  rose  wood  or  mahogany.  They  sell 
ebony  by  the  pound." 

"  Where  does  ebony  come  from  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  Forester. 

"  I  should  like  to  know,"  said  Marco.  "  How 
much  do  they  sell  it  for,  by  the  pound  ? " 

"  I  don't  know  that,  either,"  said  Forester.  "  I 
know  very  little  about  it,  only  that  it  is  a  very 
costly  wood,  on  account  of  some  peculiar  properties 
which  it  has,  and  its  scarcity." 


EBONY    AND    TINE.  67 

"What  are  the  peculiar  properties?"  asked 
Marco. 

"  One  is,  its  great  hardness,"  said  Forester.  "  It 
is  very  hard  indeed.  Another  is,  its  color." 

"  What  color  is  it  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Black,"  replied  Forester, — "  black  as  jet ;  at 
least,  one  kind  is  black  as  jet.  There  is  a  kind 
which  is  brown.  It  is  called  brown  ebony." 

"  I  don't  think  black  is  very  pretty,"  said  Marco. 

"  No,"  said  Forester  ;  "  there  does  not  seem  to 
be  much  beauty  in  black,  in  itself  considered ;  but 
then,  for  certain  purposes,  it  is  much  handsomer 
than  any  other  color  would  be ;  for  a  cane,  for 
instance." 

Marco  looked  at  the  beech  cane  which  he  had 
before  him,  and  began  to  consider  how  it  would 
look  if  it  were  black. 

"  I  suppose  I  could  paint  my  cane  black,"  said 
he,  after  a  moment's  pause,  "  if  you  think  it  would 
be  any  better." 

"  No,"  said  Forester ;  "  I  should  prefer  having 
it  of  its  natural  color.  The  bark  of  the  beech  has 
beautiful  colors,  if  they  are  only  brought  out  by  a 
coat  of  varnish." 

"  Brought  out?"  repeated  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester.  "  There  is  a  kind  of  fine 
dust,  or  something  like  that,  which  dims  the  bark ; 
but,  when  you  put  on  oil  or  varnish,  there  is  a  sort 
of  transparency  given  to  the  outside  coating,  which 
brings  the  natural  color  of  the  bark  fully  to  view." 


68      MARCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

"  Then  I  will  get  my  cane  varnished,  when  I 
get  to  Bath,"  said  Marco. 

"  Ebony,"  said  Forester,  "  is  used  a  great  deal 
where  a  contrast  with  ivory  is  wanted.  Ebony  is 
hard  and  fine-grained,  like  ivory,  and  it  takes  a 
high  polish.  So,  whenever  they  want  a  contrast 
of  black  and  white,  they  take  ebony  and  ivory." 

"  When  do  they  want  a  contrast  between  black 
and  white  ? " 

"  One  case,"  replied  Forester,  "  is  that  of  the 
keys  of  a  piano  forte.  They  want  the  short  keys, 
which  mark  the  semi-tones,  of  a  different  color  from 
the  others,  so  that  the  eye  will  catch  them  as  quick 
as  possible.  So  in  a  chess-board.  They  sometimes 
make  chess-boards  with  alternate  squares  of  ebony 
and  ivory." 

"  I  think  it  would  be  just  as  well  to  take  common 
wood  and  paint  it  black,"  said  Marco,  "  rather 
than  pay  so  much  money  for  ebony." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  that  would  not  do  so 
well.  The  paint  would  wear  off;  or,  if  it  did  not 
wear  off  by  handling-,  still,  if  it  got  a  little  knock 
or  hard  rub,  a  part  would  come  off,  and  that  would 
show  a  little  spot  which  would  be  of  the  natural 
color  of  the  wood.  This  would  look  very  badly." 

"  Then,  besides,  painted  wood,"  continued  For 
ester,  "  cannot  be  finished  off  so  smoothly,  and 
polished  up  so  highly,  as  a  wood  which  is  black 
by  nature.  They  have  a  way  of  staining  wood, 
however,  which  is  better  than  painting  it." 

"  How  is  that  done  ? "  asked  Marco. 


EBONY    AND   PINE.  69 

"  Why,  they  make  a  black  stain,"  said  Forester, 
"  which  they  put  upon  the  wood.  This  staining 
soaks  in  a  little  way,  and  blackens  the  fibres  of  the 
wood  itself,  beneath  the  surface.  This,  of  course, 
will  not  wear  off  as  easily  as  paint." 

"  I  should  not  think  it  would  wear  off  at  all," 
said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  for,  if  a  cane  is  made 
of  any  wood  stained  black,  after  a  time  the  wood 
itself  wears  away  farther  than  the  staining  had 
penetrated.  Then  the  fresh  wood  will  come  to 
view.  So  that,  if  you  want  anything  black,  it  is 
much  better  to  make  it  of  a  wood  which  is  black 
all  the  way  through. 

"  Besides,"  continued  Forester,  "  ebony  is  a  very 
hard  wood,  and  it  will  bear  knocks  and  rough 
usages  much  better  than  other  kinds  of  wood 
which  are  softer.  Once  I  made  a  carpenter  an 
ebony  wedge,  to  split  his  laths  with." 

"  What  are  laths  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Laths  are  the  thin  split  boards  which  are 
nailed  upon  the  sides  of  a  room  before  the  plas 
tering  is  put  on.  Sometimes  laths  are  made  very 
narrow,  and  are  nailed  on  at  a  little  distance  from 
each  other,  so  as  to  leave  a  crack  between  them. 
Then  the  plastering,  being  soft  when  it  is  put  on, 
works  into  the  cracks,  and  thus  clings  to  the  wood 
when  it  is  dry  and  hard.  If  plastering  was  put 
on  to  smooth  boards,  or  a  smooth  wall,  it  would 
all  fall  off  again  very  easily." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco ;  "  I  have  seen  the  plaster- 


70      MAKCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

ing  coming  up  through  the  cracks  in  the  garret  at 
your  house  in  Vermont." 

"  The  lath  boards,"  continued  Forester,  "  are 
sometimes  made  narrow,  and  nailed  on  at  a  little 
distance  from  each  other,  and  sometimes  they  are 
wide  boards,  split  up,  but  not  taken  apart,  and  then 
the  cracks,  which  are  made  in  splitting  them,  are 
forced  open  when  the  boards  are  nailed  on.  The 
way  they  do  it,  is  this.  They  put  the  wide  lath 
board  down  upon  a  plank,  and  make  a  great  many 
cracks  in  it  with  an  axe.  Then  they  put  it  upon 
the  wall,  or  ceiling,  and  nail  one  edge.  Then  they 
take  a  wedge  and  drive  into  one  of  the  cracks,  and 
force  it  open  far  enough  to  let  the  plastering  in. 
Then  they  put  in  some  more  nails,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  keep  that  crack  open.  Then  they 
wedge  open  another  crack,  and  nail  again  ;  and  so 
on,  until  they  have  nailed  on  the  whole  board,  so 
as  to  leave  the  cracks  all  open." 

"  And  you  made  the  carpenter  an  ebony  wedge  ?  " 
said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester.  "  He  had  had  wedges 
made  of  the  hardest  wood  that  he  could  get,  but  they 
would  soon  become  bruised,  and  battered,  and  worn 
out,  with  their  hard  rubbing  against  the  sides  of 
the  cracks.  At  last.  I  told  him  I  had  a  very  hard 
kind  of  wood,  and  I  gave  him  a  piece  of  ebony. 
He  made  it  into  a  wedge,  and,  after  that,  he  had 
no  more  difficulty.  He  said  his  ebony  wedge  was 
just  like  iron." 

"  Was  it  really  as  hard  as  iron  ? "  asked  Marco. 


EBONY    AND   PINE.  71 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Forester, — "  but  it  was  much 
harder  than  any  wood  which  he  could  get.  He 
thought  it  was  a  very  curious  wood.  He  had 
never  seen  any  like  it  before." 

"  I  should  like  some  ebony,"  said  Marco. 

"  Ebony  would  be  an  excellent  wood  to  make  a 
top  of,"  said  Forester,  "  it  is  so  hard  and  heavy." 

"  I  should  like  to  have  a  top  hard,"  said  Marco, 
"  but  I  don't  think  it  would  be  any  better  for  being 
heavy." 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  the  top  would  spin 
longer.  The  heavier  a  top  is,  the  longer  it  will 
spin." 

"  Then  I  should  like  a  top  made  of  lead,"  said 
Marco. 

"  It  would  spin  very  long,"  said  Forester,  "  if  it 
was  well  made,  though  it  would  require  more 
strength  to  set  it  a-going  well.  But  lead  would 
be  soft,  and  thus  would  easily  get  bruised  and 
indented.  Besides,  black  would  be  a  prettier  color 
for  a  top  than  lead  color.  A  jet  black  top,  well 
polished,  would  be  very  handsome." 

"  Is  black  a  color  ? "  asked  Marco.  "  I  read  in 
a  book  once  that  black  and  white  were  not  colors." 

"  There  are  two  meanings  to  the  word  color," 
said  Forester.  "  In  one  sense,  black  is  a  color,  and 
in  another  sense,  it  is  not.  For  instance,  if  a  lady 
were  to  go  into  a  shop,  and  ask  for  some  morocco 
shoes  for  a  little  child,  and  they  were  to  show  her 
some  black  ones,  she  might  say  she  did  not  want 


72      MARCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

black  ones ;  she  wanted  colored  ones.  In  that 
sense,  black  would  not  be  a  color. 

"  On  the  other  hand,"  continued  Forester,  "  she 
might  ask  for  silk  stockings,  and  if  the  shop 
keeper  were  to  ask  her  what  color  she  wanted,  she 
might  say  black.  In  that  sense,  black  would  be  a 
color." 

"  Which  is  the  right  sense  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Both  are  right,"  said  Forester.  "  When  a 
word  is  commonly  used  in  two  senses,  both  are 
correct.  The  philosophers  generally  consider 
black  not  to  be  a  color ;  that  is,  they  generally  use 
the  word  in  the  first  sense." 

"  Why  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  For  this  reason,"  replied  Forester.  He  was 
going  on  to  explain  the  reason,  when  suddenly 
Marco's  attention  was  attracted  by  the  sight  of  a 
long  raft  of  logs,  which  was  coming  down  the 
river.  They  had  been  riding  at  some  distance 
from  the  river,  and  out  of  sight  of  it,  but  now  it 
came  suddenly  into  view,  just  as  this  raft  was 
passing  by.  There  were  two  men  on  the  raft. 

"  See  those  men  on  the  raft,"  said  Marco. 
"  They  are  paddling." 

"  No,"  replied  Forester ;    "  they  are  sculling." 

"  Sculling?"  repeated  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester.  "  They  always  scull 
a  raft.  It  is  a  different  motion  from  paddling." 

Marco  watched  the  men  attentively,  examining 
the  motion  which  they  made  in  sculling,  and  con- 


EBONY   AND    PINE. 


73 


sidering  whether  he  might  not  have  sculled  his 
raft  to  the  shore  in  the  same  manner. 


"  What  straight  logs  ! "  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester ;  "  the  pine  tree  grows 
up  tall  and  straight,  and  without  branches,  to  a 
great  height.  This  is  the  source  of  some  of  its 
most  valuable  properties.  It  makes  the  wood 
straight-grained.  That  is,  the  fibres  run  smooth 
and  regularly,  from  one  end  of  the  stem  to  the 
other." 

Just  at  this  time,  Forester  saw  a  large  pine  tree 
growing  alone,  by  the  side  of  the  road  they  were 
travelling.  This  solitary  tree  had  a  great  many 
branches  growing  out  from  the  stem,  in  every  part, 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom. 

"  That  is  because  the  tree  grows  by  itself,"  said 
Forester,  "  in  the  open  field.  Those  that  grow  in 
the  forest  do.not  throw  out  branches  from  the  stem, 
7 


74      MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

but  they  run  up  to  a  great  height,  with  only  a  little 
tuft  of  branches  on  the  top." 

"  I  don't  see  why  they  don't  have  branches  in 
the  woods,"  said  Marco. 

"  Because,"  replied  Forester,  "  where  trees  grow 
close  together,  the  light  and  the  air  is  excluded 
from  the  lower  parts  of  the  stems,  and  so  branches 
cannot  grow  there.  Nothing  can  grow  without 
light  and  air." 

"  I've  seen  monstrous  long  potato  sprouts  grow 
in  a  dark  cellar,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  so  have  I.  I  did  not 
think  of  that.  But  they  don't  grow  very  well." 

"  They  grow  pretty  long,  sometimes,"  replied 
Marco. 

"  At  any  rate,"  said  Forester,  "  the  branches  of 
trees  will  not  grow  from  the  stems  of  the  trees 
near  the  ground,  in  the  woods  ;  and  this  is  of  great 
importance,  for,  whenever  a  branch  grows  out,  it 
makes  a  knot,  extending  in  to  the  very  centre  of 
the  tree.  This  would  injure  a  pine  log  very  much, 
as  the  knot  would  show  in  all  the  boards,  and  a 
knot  is  a  great  injury  to  a  pine  board,  though  it 
is  of  great  benefit  to  a  mahogany  one." 

"  Why  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Because  it  gives  the  wood  a  beautiful  varie 
gated  appearance  when  they  get  it  smoothed.  So 
that  the  more  knotted  and  gnarled  a  log  of 
mahogany  is,  the  better.  It  makes  the  more 
beautiful  wood.  But  in  pine,  it  is  not  beauty,  but 
facility  of  working,  which  is  the  great  object.  So 


EBONY    AND    PINE.  75 

they  always  want  to  get  pine  as  smooth  and 
straight-grained  as  possible.  So  that  one  of 
these  trees  that  grow  detached,  in  the  fields,  would 
not  be  of  much  value  for  lumber.  It  has  so  many 
branches,  that  the  boards  made  from  it  would  be 
full  of  knots." 

"  That  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,"  said  Marco, 
"  why  they  don't  cut  them  down,  and  make  them 
into  boards." 

"  Perhaps  it  is,"  replied  Forester. 

"  Has  pine  any  other  very  good  qualities  ? " 
asked  Marco. 

"  I  believe  it  is  quite  a  durable  wood,''  said 
Forester.  "  At  any  rate,  the  stumps  last  a  very 
long  time  in  the  ground.  I  have  heard  it  said 
that  there  are  some  stumps  in  the  state  of  Maine 
with  the  old  mark  of  G.  R.  upon  them." 

"What  does  G.  R.  mean?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Georgius  Rex"  replied  Forester, — "  that  is, 
George,  the  king.  If  there  are  any  such,  the  mark 
on  them  means  that  they  belonged  to  the  king  of 
England,  before  this  country  was  separated  from 
England.  In  those  days,  the  king's  workmen 
went  into  the  forests  to  select  and  mark  the  trees 
which  were  to  be  cut  down  for  the  king's  use,  and 
these  marks  were  left  upon  the  stumps." 

"  And  how  long  ago  was  that  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  0,  it  must  have  been  sixty  or  seventy  years 
ago.  But  I  can  hardly  believe  that  the  stumps 
would  last  as  long  as  that." 

"  I  mean  to  ask  some  of  the  men,  when  I  get  up 


76      MARCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

in  the  woods,  how  long  the  stumps  do  last,"  said 
Marco. 

"  They  last  very  long,  I  know,"  said  Forester. 
"  The  people,  after  getting  tired  of  waiting  to  have 
them  rot  out,  tear  them  up  with  machines,  and 
make  fences  of  them." 

"  I  don't  see  how  they  can  make  fences  of 
stumps,"  said  Marco. 

"  They  put  them  in  a  row,  with  the  roots  in  the 
air,"  replied  Forester.  "  They  make  a  funny- 
looking  fence." 

Just  at  this  time  Marco  perceived  a  large  town 
corning  into  view  before  them,  which,  Forester  told 
him,  was  Bath.  There  were  several  ships  build 
ing  along  the  shore  of  the  river. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE    BEAR    IN    THE    MILL. 

MARCO  and  Forester  found  a  small  steamboat  at 
Bath,  going  up  the  river,  and  they  took  passage 
in  it  to  Hallo  well.  At  Hallo  well,  they  took  the 
stage,  and  travelled  along  the  banks  of  the  river, 
sometimes  on  one  side  and  sometimes  on  the 
other.  They  crossed  the  river  by  means  of  bridges, 
which  were  erected  in  nearly  all  the  principal 
towns.  They  passed  a  number  of  waterfalls, 
where  saw-mills  had  been  built  for  sawing  the 
logs.  Marco  was  astonished  at  the  number  of 
these  mills,  the  quantity  of  logs  which  lay  in  the 
booms,  and  the  vast  piles  of  boards  which  had 
accumulated  in  some  of  the  sawing  villages. 

At  one  of  these  villages,  where  he  and  Forester 
stopped  to  spend  the  night,  they  went  out  in  the 
evening  to  see  the  mills.  The  mills  were  lighted 
by  little  fires  of  pitch-pine  knots,  which  made  a 
bright  flame  and  gave  a  fine  light.  These  little 
fires  were  built  upon  slabs,  which  Marco  thought 
was  very  dangerous.  The  slabs,  however,  though 
they  looked  dry,  were  really  very  wet,  being 
thoroughly  soaked  with  water  within,  having  been 
7* 


78      MARCO    PAUL   IN   THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

sawed  from  logs  which  had  been  for  a  long  time 
floating  in  the  river. 

The  beam,  to  which  the  saw  was  attached  in 
each  mill,  as  it  ascended  and  descended  with  the 
saw,  passed  across  these  lights  with  a  rapid  motion, 
which  made  the  lights  appear  and  disappear,  in 
regular  succession,  in  a  very  beautiful  manner. 

Forester  and  Marco  clambered  into  one  of  these 
mills.  They  had  to  make  their  way  over  slabs, 
boards  and  heaps  of  rubbish  of  various  kinds,  and 
the  floor  of  the  mill  seemed  to  be  made  of  boards 
and  planks,  laid  loosely  and  with  many  open 
places,  in  which,  when  Marco  looked  down,  he 
saw  dark  and  frightful  abysses,  where  he  could 
hear  the  water  dashing,  and,  now  and  then,  could 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  foam. 

Of  course,  both  Forester  and  Marco  advanced 
very  carefully.  When  they  had  entered,  they 
found  but  one  man  tending  the  mill.  He  was 
seated  on  a  square  block  of  wood,  near  the  fire, 
eating  some  bread  and  cheese.  As  Forester  and 
Marco  advanced  towards  him,  he  looked  up  and 
bade  them  good  evening. 

"  Will  you  allow  us  to  come  in  and  see  the 
mill  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  By  all  means,"  said  the  mill-man. 

The  mill-man  here  looked  around  at  the  log  which 
he  was  then  sawing,  and  he  observed  that  it  was 
time  for  him  to  attend  to  it.  So  he  put  down  his 
bread  and  cheese  upon  the  block,  and  went  towards 


THE    BEAR   IN    THE    MILL.  79 

the  saw.     Forester  and  Marco  both  turned  to  see 
what  he  was  going  to  do. 

The  log  was  lying  upon  a  long  frame,  which 
frame  seemed  to  be  mounted  upon  some  sort  of 
trucks,  for  it  advanced  slowly,  by  a  steady  motion, 
against  the  saw.  As  the  saw  was  constantly 
moving  up  and  down  with  great  force,  the  log  was 
sawed  as  it  advanced.  It  had  now  advanced  s- 
far  that  the  log  had  been  sawed  nearly  through; 
from  end  to  end.  When  it  had  gone  a  little 
farther,  the  mill-man  pulled  a  handle,  and  stopped 
the  motion  of  the  carriage  and  the  log,  and,  in  a 
moment  afterwards,  the  log  began  to  go  back 
again ;  the  saw,  all  the  time,  ascending  and 
descending  as  before,  but  without  doing  any  wrork. 
When  the  log  had  got  back  so  far  that  the  saw 
came  out  of  the  cleft  which  it  had  made,  the  man 
stopped  it,  and  then,  with  an  iron  bar,  he  shifted 
the  position  of  the  log  in  such  a  manner  that 
when  the  carriage  should  be  put  in  motion,  the 
saw  would  cut  the  log  in  a  new  place,  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  other, — a  distance  just  equal 
to  the  thickness  of  the  board  which  they  wished 
to  make. 

Marco  watched  all  these  movements  with  great 
interest.  Forester,  who  had  often  seen  them 
before,  went  back  to  the  fire,  and  held  his  hands 
out  to  it,  for,  as  it  was  a  cold  evening,  the  feeling 
of  the  warmth,  was  pleasant.  He  could  see  that 
Marco  remained  talking  with  the  mill-man ;  but 


80       MARCO    PAUL    IN    THh    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

the  noise  of  the  machinery  was  so  great  that  he 
could  not  hear  what  they  said. 

The  flashes  of  light  from  the  fire  illuminated 
Marco's  face,  however,  and  Forester  could  see  that 
he  was  much  interested  in  what  the  mill-man  was 
telling  him.  The  mill-man  sat  down  upon  the 
log,  and  made  gestures  as  if  he  was  eating  some 
thing.  Then  he  took  hold  of  Marco,  and  put  him 
down  upon  the  log  in  his  place,  and  he  took  a  seat 
himself  beyond  him — that  is,  between  Marco  and 
the  saw.  All  this  time,  the  log,  riding  upon  the 
great  frame,  was  slowly  advancing  against  the 
saw,  carrying  Marco  and  the  mill-man  along  with 
it.  When  it  had  carried  them  so  far  that  the  mill- 
man  was  getting  to  be  very  near  the  saw,  he 
turned  suddenly  round,  and  made  a  gesture  as  if 
he  was  going  to  clasp  the  saw  in  his  arms, — laugh 
ing  as  he  did  it, — and,  immediately  afterwards,  he 
got  up  from  the  log,  and  Marco  got  up,  too, — 
beginning  to  laugh  himself,  also,  though  his  coun 
tenance  had  expressed  surprise  and  anxiety  before. 

A  short  time  after  this,  when  Marco  came  back 
to  the  place  where  Forester  was,  Forester  asked 
him  what  the  mill-man  had  been  saying  to  him. 

"  He  was  telling  me  a  story  of  a  bear,"  said 
Marco. 

"  Of  a  bear  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  of  a  bear  in  a  saw-mill." 

"  I  don't  see  what  a  bear  had  to  do  in  a  saw 
mill,"  replied  Forester. 


THE    BEAR    IN    THE    MILL.  SI 

"  It  was  a  great  many  years  ago,  when  there 
were  bears  in  the  woods  about  here.  There  was 
a  man  sawing  in  a  mill,  and  he  was  sitting  on  the 
end  of  the  log  that  he  was  sawing,  eating  his  bread 
and  cheese.  The  bread  and  cheese  were  lying  on 
the  log,  next  to  where  the  man  was  sitting. 

"  While  the  man  was  sitting  there  in  this  man 
ner,  eating  his  bread  and  cheese,  a  bear  came 
walking  into  the  mill, — a  great  black  bear.  He 
came  up  to  the  log,  and  when  he  saw  that  the 
man  was  eating  bread  and  cheese,  he  thought  he 
should  like  some  too.  So  he  sat  down  on  the 
log." 

"  On  which  side  of  the  man  ?"  asked  Forester, 
— "  towards  the  saw  or  from  it  ?  " 


"  Towards  the  saw,"  said  Marco.     "  The  man 
was  on  the  end  of  the  log  farthest  from  the  saw. 


82       MARCO    PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS   OF    MAINE. 

The  bear  sat  a  little  beyond  him,  nearer  to  the 
saw,  and  the  bread  and  cheese  was  between  them. 
The  bear  began  to  eat  the  bread  and  cheese." 

"  How  ? "  asked  Forester. 

"  Why,  he  took  it  up  in  his  paws,  I  suppose," 
said  Marco, — "  though  I  don't  know  certainly  about 
that.  At  any  rate,  he  began  to  eat  the  bread  and 
cheese, — sitting  with  his  back  towards  the  saw, 
and  his  face  towards  the  man. 

"  And  all  this  time,  you  must  understand,"  said 
Marco,  "  that  the  carriage  was  carrying  the  log, 
man,  bear,  and  all,  towards  the  saw,  and  the  man 
saw  that  if  the  bear  would  only  keep  still,  in  his 
place,  until  he  was  carried  to  the  saw,  he  would 
get  sawed  in  two,  and  so  killed.  At  first,  he 
thought  it  would  be  best  for  him  to  get  hold  of 
the  iron  bar,  if  he  could,  and  beat  the  old  bear's 
brains  out.  But  he  was  afraid  that  he  should  not 
succeed  in  doing  that,  and  so  he  concluded  to  wait 
and  see  what  would  happen. 

"  Now,  bears  have  a  wray,"  continued  Marco, 
"  whenever  they  are  angry  with  anything,  of  grasp 
ing  it  in  their  arms  and  hugging  it  tight.  The  man 
did  not  think  of  this ;  he  only  hoped  that  the  saw 
would  saw  the  bear  in  two.  The  log  moved  on 
nearer  and  nearer,  and  at  last  brought  the  bear 
along  so  far  that  the  next  stroke  cut  right  down  his 
back.  He  immediately  turned  around  and  seized 
the  saw,  and  hugged  it  with  all  his  strength,  and  it 
tore  him  all  to  pieces." 

"  Indeed,"  said  Forester.  "  That  is  quite  a 
story." 


THE    BEAR    IN    THE    MILL.  83 

Forester  did  not  seem  so  much  astonished  at 
this  account  as  Marco  had  expected,  but  farther 
conversation  on  the  subject  was  prevented  by  the 
occurring  of  a  new  object  of  attention.  The  mill- 
man  began  to  make  arrangements  for  drawing  up 
more  logs  from  the  water  of  the  river,  by  means 
of  a  long  chain  passing  around  a  revolving  axis, 
in  the  manner  which  has  been  already  explained. 

Marco  watched  the  first  log,  as  it  came  slowly 
up,  and  then  he  wanted  to  go  down  the  inclined 
plane  to  the  water  below.  The  moon  was  just 
rising,  which  gave  them  sufficient  light,  and  so 
Forester  and  Marco  went  down.  Marco  wanted 
to  ride  up  on  the  next  log,  but  Forester  thought 
that  that  would  be  a  very  dangerous  experiment. 
There  was,  however,  a  boat  lying  there,  which, 
Forester  said,  perhaps  they  might  get  into,  and 
take  a  little  excursion  upon  the  water,  by  moon 
light.  Marco  thought  that  he  should  like  that 
very  well,  and  so  he  went  up  into  the  mill  again, 
to  ask  permission  to  take  the  boat.  The  mill-man 
said  that  they  might  have  the  boat  all  night,  if 
they  wanted  it. 

Marco  accordingly  returned  down  the  inclined 
plane,  telling  Forester  that  they  could  have  the 
boat.  But  Forester,  who  began  to  find  the  evening 
air  too  cold  and  chilly,  said  that  he  did  not  think 
it  was  worth  while  for  them  to  set  out  on  a  voyage 
at  so  late  an  hour.  But  Marco's  imagination  was 
so  much  taken  with  the  idea  of  a  voyage  in  a  boat 
by  moonlight,  that  he  \vas  very  urgent  to  have 


84     MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

Forester  go.  So  Forester  consented,  and  they 
both  got  into  the  boat. 

"  Which  way  shall  we  steer  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  We  must  go  up  the  stream,"  said  Forester. 

"  Why  must  we  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Because  there  is  a  dam  and  a  waterfall  below 
us,"  replied  Forester. 

There  was  a  dam  across  the  river,  at  the  mill, 
and  the  inclined  plane,  which  led  from  the  floor 
of  the  mill  down  to  the  shore  of  the  river,  ter 
minated  at  the  edge  of  the  water  just  above  the 
dam.  The  water  was  so  low  that  it  did  not  fall 
over  the  dam  near  the  shore,  though  Forester  and 
Marco  could  hear  the  roaring  of  the  water,  which 
fell  over  the  dam  nearer  the  middle  of  the 
river. 

"  We  must  take  care,"  said  Marco,  "  or  we 
shall  get  carried  over  the  dam.  I  read  of  an  Indian 
once,  who  was  carried  over  the  falls  of  Niagara." 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  we  must  be  careful." 

Forester  turned  the  head  of  the  boat  up  the 
river,  keeping  near  the  shore,  so  as  to  avoid  all 
possibility  of  being  carried  over  the  dam.  The 
boat  shot  along  swiftly  through  the  water. 

"  The  boat  goes  very  well,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester ;  "  and  yet  it  is  only  a 
log  canoe." 

"  A  log  canoe,"  said  Marco.  "  Is  this  only  a  log 
canoe  ? " 

"  That  is  all,"  replied  Forester.  "  It  is  made 
of  a  log,  hollowed  out.  They  use  a  great  many 


THE    BEAR    IN    THE    MILL.  85 

such  boats  on  this  river.     They  go  very  easily 
with  paddles." 

Forester  and  Marco  both  had  paddles.  Marco 
sat  about  in  the  middle  of  the  boat,  but  Forester 
sat  in  the  stern,  propelling  the  boat  and  steering  it 
at  the  same  time.  When  they  got  up  a  little  way 
above  the  dam,  they  went  out  farther  towards  the 
middle  of  the  river.  Forester  soon  became  warm 
by  the  exercise  of  paddling,  and  had  no  disposition 
to  return.  They  both  found  it  very  romantic  and 
delightful  to  glide  smoothly  over  the  glassy  sur 
face  of  the  water,  which  was  silvered  by  the  moon 
beams. 

They  soon  came  to  a  turn  in  the  river,  which  car 
ried  them  away  from  the  sight  of  the  mills  and  the 
dam,  and  brought  them  under  high  banks,  which, 
in  some  places,  presented  rocky  cliffs  to  the  view, 
and,  in  others,  were  covered  with  forests.  This 
scenery  had  a  peculiarly  sombre  and  solemn  ex 
pression,  seen  thus,  under  the  light  of  the  moon. 
Marco  gazed  at  it  in  silence,  and  with  a  feeling  of 
awe. 

They  went  on  in  this  manner  for  half  an  hour, 
until  they  found  themselves  approaching  a  rocky 
island,  crowned  with  forests.  Marco  wanted  to 
land  upon  it. 

"  Very  well,"  said  Forester ;  "  I  have  no  ob 
jection  ;  but  would  you  not  rather  go  back  ?" 

"  No,"  said  Marco.  "  I  want  to  explore  this 
island." 

"  But  are  you  not  cold  ?"  asked  Forester. 
8 


86      MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

"  No,"  said  Marco,  "  not  at  all." 

"My  hands  and  feet  are  a  little  cold,"  said 
Forester. 

"  Then  we  will  go  back  pretty  soon,"  said 
Marco,  "but  first  just  let  us  land  a  minute  upon 
this  island." 

So  Forester  turned  the  head  of  the  boat  towards 
the  shore,  and  Marco,  as  soon  as  it  touched, 
scrambled  out  upon  the  rocks. 

"  Oh,  Forester!"  he  exclaimed,  at  once,  "here 
is  plenty  of  drift-wood.  Let  us  make  a  fire,  and 
warm  your  hands  and  feet." 

"  Drift-wood  ? "  rejoined  Forester.  "  Will  drift 
wood  make  a  fire  ? " 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  should  think  it  would  be  too  wet,"  replied 
Forester. 

Marco  said  no  more,  but,  at  that  instant,  Forester 
observed  a  little  flash,  and  then  a  faint  glimmer 
of  light  where  Marco  was.  He  had  lighted  a 
match  by  rubbing  it  against  some  drift-wood.  He 
touched  it  to  some  dry  bark,  and  soon  had  a  pleasant 
little  blaze  upon  the  rocks,  near  the  shore.  He 
piled  on  pieces  of  drift-wood,  such  as  branches  of 
trees,  old  slabs,  &c.,  which  he  found  lying  about 
there,  and  he  soon  had  a  very  good  fire.  Forester 
sat  down  upon  the  rocks,  and  warmed  his  hands 
and  feet. 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  hatchet  here,"  said  Marco,  "  or 
an  axe." 

"Why?"  asked  Forester. 


THE    BEAR   IN    THE    MILL.  87 

"  Why,  we  could  make  a  camp,  and  lie  here  all 
night,"  said  Marco. 

"  O,  no,"  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  for  the  man  said  we  might 
have  his  boat  all  night." 

"  No,"  replied  Forester.  "  We  will  camp  out 
when  we  get  fairly  into  the  forests  on  Dead 
river." 

Accordingly,  after  a  little  time,  when  the  fire 
had  burnt  down  somewhat,  they  threw  the  brands 
into  the  river,  and  then,  embarking  in  their  boat, 
they  returned  to  the  mill. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE    BIVOUACK. 

MARCO  and  Forester  had  an  opportunity  to  en 
camp  for  the  night,  in  the  woods,  in  a  manner 
different  from  what  they  expected.  It  happened 
in  this  way.  In  the  course  of  their  rambles  among 
the  forests  which  are  about  the  lakes  and  the 
upper  branches  of  the  Kennebec,  they  came,  one 
night,  to  a  farm-house,  where  they  had  to  spend 
the  night.  The  house  was  built  of  logs.  It  was 
in  a  small  opening  in  the  woods.  This  opening 
was  occupied  with  fields,  which  were  divided  from 
each  other  by  log  fences.  The  fields  were  full  of 
stumps.  The  whole  opening  was  bordered  on 
every  side  by  a  perpendicular  wall  of  forest, — the 
tall  stems  forming  a  colonnade,  which  reminded 
Marco  of  the  palisades  on  the  North  river,  just 
above  New  York. 

There  was  but  one  room  in  this  log  house,  and, 
at  first,  Marco  did  not  know  where  he  and  Forester 
were  to  sleep.  There  was  a  great  blazing  fire  in 
the  fire-place,  which  was  made  of  rough  stones. 
The  hearth  was  made  of  great  flat  stones.  These 
stones  were  tolerably  smooth  on  the  upper  side ; 


THE    BIVOUACK.  89 

but,  as  they  were  not  square,  there  were  many 
spaces  left  between  them,  and  at  the  corners,  which 
were  filled  with  earth.  But,  though  the  fire-place 
was  rough,  the  great  fire  blazed  merrily  in  it ;  and 
Marco  thought  that  it  was  pleasanter  than  his 
father's  marble  fire-place,  in  New  York,  with  a 
grate  in  it,  filled  with  a  hard  coal  fire,  looking  like 
red-hot  stones. 

"  I  wish  we  had  such  a  fire-place  as  this  in  New 
York,"  said  Marco. 

"  And  wood  to  burn  in  it,"  replied  Forester. 

"  O,  we  can  get  wood  enough  in  New  York," 
said  Marco.  "  The  carmen  bring  it  along  every 
morning.  We  might  have  such  a  fire-place  down 
in  the  basement,  or  in  that  little  room  in  the  stable, 
and  then  I  would  go  and  build  fires  in  it." 

Just  then,  the  farmer's  wife  came  with  a  spider 
to  the  fire,  to  broil  some  chickens  for  their  supper. 
She  pulled  out  the  coals  with  a  long-handled  iron 
shovel,  which  she  called  a  slice.  She  cooked  the 
young  travellers  a  most  excellent  supper. 

The  farmer  and  his  wife  were  both  rather 
young.  They  had  one  child.  He  was  asleep  in 
the  cradle.  This  cradle  was  only  a  box,  made  of 
boards,  and  mounted  on  rockers.  Marco  asked 
the  farmer  if  he  made  the  cradle  himself,  and  he 
said  he  did. 

There  was  a  boy  living  in  this  house,  named 

Isaiah.      Isaiah  was  the  farmer's  brother.      He 

worked  hard  all  day  on  the  farm,  and  at  night  he 

slept  in  a  sort  of  garret,  which  they  called  the  loft. 

8* 


90      MARCO   PAUL   IN    THE    FORESTS    OF   MAINE. 

The  way  to  get  up  to  the  loft  was  by  a  ladder  on 
one  side  of  the  room. 

When  bed-time  came,  Forester  and  Marco 
climbed  up  this  ladder,  and  went  to  bed.  They 
slept  upon  a  straw  bed,  which  was  lying  in  a 
corner.  They  had  two  clean  but  very  coarse 
sheets,  and  a  good  warm  coverlid.  Marco  crept 
in  well  under  the  eaves  of  the  house,  but  Forester 
slept  on  the  outer  side  of  the  bed,  where  the  roof 
was  higher. 

Marco  was  awaked  in  the  night  by  a  strange 
sound,  which  he  heard,  directly  over  his  head. 
He  lifted  up  his  head  and  listened.  It  was  the 
pattering  of  rain  upon  the  roof.  The  roof  was, 
however,  very  tight,  and  none  of  the  rain  came  in. 
The  roof  was  covered  with  shingles,  which  the 
farmer  had  made  himself,  in  a  little  shop  near  his 
house. 

Marco  listened  to  the  rain  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  went  to  sleep  again.  He  was  glad  to  hear  it 
rain,  because  he  wanted  to  stay  at  this  house  the 
next  day,  and  he  thought  Forester  would  not  go 
away  in  the  rain. 

The  next  that  he  knew  was  that  it  was  morning. 
He  spoke  to  Forester,  saying, 

"  It  rains,  cousin  Forester." 

"  Does  it  ? "  said  Forester.  "  Then  I  don't  know 
what  we  shall  do." 

"  We  must  stay  here,  to-day,"  said  Marco. 
"  Then  I  can  see  Isaiah  make  a  shingle.  Isaiah 
can  make  a  shingle.  Did  you  know  it?" 


THE    BIVOUAC.  91 

"  I  don't  hear  it  rain,"  said  Forester. 

"  I  mean  to  get  up  and  see,"  said  Marco. 

There  was  no  glass  window  in  this  garret,  but 
the  light  shone  through  the  chinks  between  the 
logs.  There  was  a  wooden  window,  as  Marco 
called  it;  that  is,  there  was  an  opening  in  the 
wall,  with  a  wooden  shutter  to  close  it.  Marco 
went  to  this  window  and  opened  it.  He  looked 
out  upon  the  wild  and  solitary  scene  which  was 
before  him  with  great  interest.  At  length  he  said, 

"  No,  cousin  Forester,  it  does  not  rain, — but  I 
wish  you  would  stay  here  to-day." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Forester.  "  I  will  stay  here 
as  long  as  you  wish." 

Marco  was  rejoiced  to  hear  this ;  and  he  spent 
two  hours,  after  breakfast,  in  rambling  about  the 
farmer's  house  and  grounds.  He  went  into  the 
little  shop,  and  amused  himself  for  half  an  hour  in 
seeing  Isaiah  make  shingles.  Isaiah  let  him  try 
to  make  one  himself,  and  he  succeeded  pretty  well. 
He  carried  his  shingle  in  to  Forester  to  show  it  to 
him. 

Forester  said  he  thought  it  was  a  very  good 
shingle. 

"  I  should  like  to  carry  it  home,"  said  Marco ; 
"  but  I  suppose  you  would  think  that  that  would 
be  a  foolish  plan." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  I  do  not  think  it  would 
be  foolish.  The  shingle  is  flat,  and  will  lie  down 
in  the  bottom  of  your  trunk;  and,  after  you  get 


92       MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

tired  of  it  as  a  shingle,  you  can  have  a  little  box 
made  of  it,  and  keep  it  all  your  life,  as  a  memorial 
of  this  expedition." 

This  was  a  very  good  plan,  for  Marco  had  not 
shaved  his  shingle  very  thin.  In  fact,  it  was  of 
about  equal  thickness  at  the  two  ends.  This, 
though  a  very  serious  fault  in  a  shingle,  made  it 
much  more  suitable  as  a  material  for  making  a 
box  of. 

Marco  also  amused  himself  for  half  an  hour  in 
going  down  to  the  spring,  where  the  farmer's  wife 
went  to  get  water,  and  playing  there.  There  was 
a  pleasant  little  path  leading  from  the  house  down 
to  the  spring.  He  went  down  once  alone,  and 
brought  up  a  pail  half  full  of  water,  for  the  farmer's 
wife,  which  seemed  to  please  her  very  much. 

While  he  was  doing  these  things,  Forester 
remained  in  the  house,  writing  letters.  Before 
Forester  had  finished  his  last  letter,  however, 
Marco  had  got  tired  of  all  his  amusements,  and 
began  to  think  that  they  had  better  resume  their 
journey. 

"Very  well,"  said  Forester;  "whenever  you 
say  the  word." 

"  How  are  you  going  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  have  made  a  bargain  with  the  farmer,"  said 
Forester,  "  to  let  us  have  his  wagon  to  go  through 
the  woods  about  twenty-five  miles,  and  Isaiah  is 
going  with  us,  in  order  to  drive  the  wagon  back." 

Marco  was  much  pleased  with  this  arrangement, 


THE    BIVOUAC. 


93 


and  Forester  asked  him  what  time  they  should 
start.  "  We  are  under  your  direction,  you  know," 
said  he. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  and  I  wish  you  would  let 
me  have  the  direction  all  day." 

"  I  have  a  great  mind  to  do  it,"  said  Forester. 

"Do,"  said  Marco,  "and  see  how  well  I'll 
manage." 

"  Well,"  said  Forester ;  "  I  will  give  up  the 
command  to  you  till  I  resume  it  again." 

Marco  was  quite  pleased  with  his  new  powers. 
He  said  they  must  take  a  hatchet  and  a  bag  of  pro 
visions,  for  he  meant  to  dine  in  the  woods  on  the 
way.  Isaiah  accordingly  put  a  hatchet  in  the 
wagon.  They  also  took  some  bread  and  cheese, 
and  some  other  articles  of  food,  in  a  bag ;  and  also 
a  tin  dipper,  to  drink  from.  When  all  was  ready, 
Marco  called  Forester,  and  they  set  off.  Their 
trunk  was  put  into  the  wagon  behind. 

They  went  on  very  well  for  ten  miles.  The 
road  led  through  thick  forests  for  a  large  part  of 
the  way,  and  it  was  very  stony  and  rough.  But 
the  wilderness,  and  even  the  difficulties  of  the 
way,  interested  Marco  very  much.  He  thought 
that  it  was  much  pleasanter  travelling  through  those 
forest  scenes,  the  wheels  of  the  wagon  sometimes 
jolting  over  roots,  stones,  logs,  and  sometimes 
sinking  in  the  mire,  than  riding  in  a  carriage,  as  he 
had  often  done  with  his  mother,  over  the  smooth 
and  broad  avenues  leading  into  New  York. 

After  they  had  gone  about  ten  miles,  they  were 


94      MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

brought  to  a  sudden  stop  by  a  tree,  which  had  beer 
blown  down,  and  had  fallen  directly  across  the 
road. 

"  What  is  to  be  done  now  ? "  said  Marco. 

Nobody  answered. 

"What  is  to  be  done  now,  cousin  Forester?" 
repeated  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Forester.  "  I've  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  You  are  commander." 

"  Oh,  very  well,"  said  Marco.  "  Then  I  '11 
decide  what  to  do.  We  '11  chop  the  tree  off  with 
our  hatchet." 

Marco  bustled  about  with  an  air  of  great  im 
portance,  taking  the  hatchet  from  the  back  of  the 
wagon,  and  advancing  towards  the  tree,  as  if  he 
expected  to  sunder  it  at  a  single  blow.  He  looked 
towards  Isaiah,  and,  seeing  a  lurking  smile  upon 
his  countenance,  he  immediately  perceived  how 
absurd  was  the  idea  of  chopping  off  such  an  enor 
mous  stem  with  a  hatchet. 

He  accordingly  turned  suddenly  about,  saying, 

"  No  ;  we  can  't  cut  it  off  with  the  hatchet.  It 
is  too  big;  or,  rather,  the  hatchet  is  too  little. 
We  '11  see  if  we  can't  find  a  way  to  get  around 
it." 

So  Marco  asked  Forester  to  look  on  one  side  of 
the  road,  while  he  and  Isaiah  examined  the  other 
side.  They  found  that,  by  cutting  down  one  or 
two  small  trees,  they  could  get  around  very  well. 
So  Marco  directed  to  have  these  trees  cut  down, 
and  then  they  led  the  horse  around  without  much 


THE    BIVOTJAC.  95 

difficulty,  excepting  a  slight  obstruction  from  the 
bushes. 

Marco  was  quite  pleased  with  the  successful 
result  of  his  management  in  this  first  serious 
emergency.  They  rode  on  five  miles  farther,  and 
then  Marco  determined  that  it  would  be  a  good 
plan  to  look  out  for  a  place  for  their  dinner.  He 
chose  a  place  in  a  pleasant  dell,  overshadowed  by 
tall  pines  and  hemlocks,  and  watered  by  a  brook 
which  meandered  through  the  middle  of  it. 

Marco  directed  Isaiah  to  drive  the  horse  out  to 
one  side  of  the  road,  at  a  place  where  there  was  a 
pretty  broad  and  level  spot,  which  seemed  to 
Marco  a  convenient  place  for  the  horse  to  stand. 
Marco  told  Forester  that  he  and  Isaiah  might  go 
and  employ  themselves  in  finding  a  good  spot  for 
them  to  make  a  fire,  and  in  collecting  some  dry 
wood,  while  he  fastened  the  horse.  Isaiah  ac 
cordingly  took  the  axe,  and  Marco  was  to  bring 
the  bag  of  provisions. 

Marco  drew  the  horse  out  of  the  road,  and 
brought  his  head  up  near  to  the  stem  of  a  little 
tree,  which  was  growing  there.  He  then  took  out 
the  bag,  and  made  his  way  through  the  bushes,  in 
the  direction  in  which  Forester  and  Isaiah  had 
gone,  down  a  little  cow  path,  which  descended  to 
the  bank  of  the  brook. 

He  found  Forester  and  Isaiah  very  readily. 
Forester  was  seated  upon  a  flat  stone  near  the 
water,  and  Isaiah  was  gathering  dry  sticks  for  a 
fire.  It  was  a  warm  and  pleasant  day,  and  they 


96       MARCO    PAUL    IN    THE    FORESTS    OF    MAINE. 

wanted  a  fire,  not  so  much  for  its  warmth,  as  for 
the  cheerful  and  pleasant  aspect  it  gave  to  the 
place.  There  was  a  gentle  breeze  blowing  that 
day  in  the  open  ground.  This  breeze  was  not  felt 
among  the  trees,  but  it  caused  a  gentle  draft  of 
air,  which  carried  all  the  smoke  away  from  them, 
and  made  their  seat,  on  the  great  flat  stone,  very 
pleasant. 

"  Have  you  fastened  the  horse  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Marco. 

"  You  ought  to  fasten  him  pretty  strong,"  said 
Isaiah,  "  for  he  's  very  apt  to  get  away." 

"  0,  he  won't  get  away,"  said  Marco ;  "  I 
fastened  him  to  a  good  stout  tree." 


When  the  fire  was  burning  well,  Isaiah  and 
Marco   buried    some    potatoes,  which   they   had 


THE    BIVOUAC.  97 

brought  with  them,  in  the  embers  under  it.  They 
also  put  some  apples  down  to  roast  on  a  flat 
stone,  which  they  placed  near  the  fire. 

"  I  wish  we  had  some  Carolina  potatoes,"  said 
Marco. 

"  What  kind  of  potatoes  are  they  ? "  asked 
Isaiah. 

"  They  are  sweet.  They  would  be  excellent  to 
roast  in  the  woods." 

"  I  never  heard  of  a  potato  being  sweet,"  said 
Isaiah. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco.  "  They  have  plenty  of 
them  in  New  York." 

"  Then  why  don't  they  call  them  New  York 
potatoes?"  asked  Isaiah. 

"  Why,  I  believe  they  came  from  Carolina  first," 
said  Marco.  "  And  now  I  want  a  long  stick  for  a 
toaster." 

So  Marco  cut  a  long  stick,  and,  after  he  had 
made  the  end  sharp,  he  put  a  slice  of  bread  upon 
it,  and  placed  it  before  the  fire,  and  thus  toasted 
the  bread.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  business  of 
cooking  the  food,  which,  in  houses  and  cities,  is 
considered  a  disagreeable  drudgery,  which  is  to 
be  kept  as  much  as  possible  out  of  sight,  is  always 
in  the  woods  a  very  important  part  of  the  enter 
tainment,  in  which  all  the  guests  are  pleased  to 
take  a  share. 

9 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE    ENCAMPMENT. 

OUR  party  of  travellers  remained  at  the  place 
of  their  bivouac  more  than  an  hour.  At  the  end 
of  that  time,  having  eaten  all  that  they  had  cooked, 
they  began  to  think  of  resuming  their  journey. 
Marco  was  sitting  upon  the  stone,  wishing  that  he 
had  put  down  one  more  potato  to  roast,  when 
suddenly  he  perceived  a  large  grey  squirrel  upon 
a  log  near  him.  The  squirrel  ran  along  the  log, 
and  Marco  immediately  rose  and  went  in  pursuit 
of  him. 

The  squirrel  ascended  a  tree,  running  up  the 
stem.  Then  he  glided  along  one  of  the  branches 
till  he  came  to  the  end  of  it,  when  he  leaped 
through  the  air  and  caught  the  end  of  another 
branch,  which  was  growing  from  another  tree. 
This  branch,  which  was  very  slender,  bent  down 
half  way  to  the  ground  under  the  squirrel's  weight. 
Bunny  ran  up  the  branch,  however,  as  easily  as 
if  it  remained  level.  Thus  he  went  along  from 
tree  to  tree,  following,  generally,  the  direction  of 
the  path  by  which  Marco  had  descended  in  coming 
from  the  wagon. 


THE    ENCAMPMENT.  99 

At  length  he  emerged  from  the  wood,  just  at  the 
point  where  Marco  had  fastened  the  horse.  But 
all  farther  pursuit  of  him,  on  the  part  of  Marco, 
was  suddenly  arrested  by  the  astounding  fact, 
which  here  burst  suddenly  upon  Marco,  that  the 
horse  and  wagon  were  gone.  Marco  looked  all 
about,  this  way  and  that,  to  assure  himself  that  it 
was  the  very  same  place  where  he  had  fastened 
the  horse.  There  could  be  no  doubt  of  it.  There 
was  the  very  tree  to  which  he  had  tied  him,  and 
the  marks  of  his  feet,  near  it,  upon  the  ground. 

Marco  was  in  consternation.  He  looked  all 
around,  and  then  ran  into  the  road  and  looked 
both  ways,  but  no  signs  of  the  horse  were  to  be 
seen.  He  then  hurried  back  to  the  edge  of  the 
woods  and  called  out  in  a  loud  voice  : 

"  Cousin  Forester  !  Isaiah  !  cousin  Forester  ! 
our  horse  has  got  away." 

Isaiah  sprang  from  the  seat  and  ran,  quicker  than 
the  squirrel  had  done,  up  the  path.  As  he  came 
out  to  the  place  where  Marco  was  standing,  Marco 
began  to  say,  "  There  's  where  I  tied  him.  I  fas 
tened  him  strong  to  that  tree."  But  Isaiah  paid 
no  attention  to  what  he  said,  but  ran  directly  to 
the  road,  He  did  not  stop  to  look  both  ways,  but 
taking  the  road  which  led  towards  his  home,  he  ran 
along  as  fast  as  he  could  go.  Marco  followed  him 
as  far  as  into  the  road,  and  looked  after  him  as 
long  as  he  could  see  him.  Isaiah  was,  however, 
soon  out  of  sight,  and  Marco  went  back  to  find 
Forester.  Forester  was  coming  up  the  path  very 


100     MARCO   PAUL  IN  THE   FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

leisurely,  bringing  the  bag,  with  the  remaining 
provisions  in  it,  in  one  hand,  and  the  hatchet  in 
the  other." 

"  Well,  cousin  Forester,"  said  Marco,  "  we  are 
in  a  fine  condition.  Our  horse  and  wagon  have 
run  away,  and  now  Isaiah  has  run  away  too." 

"  I  think  Isaiah  will  come  back  pretty  soon," 
said  Forester.  "  As  to  the  horse  and  wagon,  that 
is  more  doubtful." 

"  And  then  what  shall  we  do  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Forester.  "  We  are  ten 
miles  from  any  house  in  one  direction,  and  fifteen 
in  another.  But  I  'm  not  commander.  It 's  nothing 
to  me.  I  've  only  to  obey  orders.  I  '11  do  what 
ever  you  say." 

"  Yes,  but  I  should  think  you  might  advise  me," 
said  Marco.  "  Generals  get  advice  from  their 
captains  and  colonels  in  battle." 

"  Oh  yes,"  said  Forester;  "  I  '11  advise  you.  I 
think  we  had  better  wait  first  till  Isaiah  comes 
back.  Perhaps  he  '11  find  the  horse." 

They  waited  about  fifteen  minutes,  and  then 
Isaiah  came  back.  But  he  had  no  horse.  He 
said  he  went  on  until  he  reached  the  top  of  a  hill 
where  he  could  see  the  road  for  a  long  distance 
before  him,  but  that  the  horse  was  not  to  be 
seen. 

"  He'll  get  home  before  I  should  overtake  him," 
said  Isaiah. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  unless  he  stopped  where 
the  tree  fell  across  the  road." 


THE  ENCAMPMENT.  101 

"  True,"  said  Isaiah  ;  "  perhaps  he  has  stopped 
there." 

"  Or  would  not  he  find  his  way  round  the 
tree  through  the  woods  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Isaiah ;  "  perhaps  he 
would." 

"  Is  he  a  pretty  sensible  horse  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Isaiah ;  "  we  have  to  keep  th 
granary  door  locked,  or  else  he  will  open  the  latci, 
with  his  teeth,  and  go  in  and  get  the  corn." 

"  Then,"  said  Marco,  "  I  've  no  doubt  that  he 
will  find  his  way  around  the  tree  and  go  home ; 
and  so  we  've  got  nothing  to  do  but  to  walk  back 
fifteen  miles." 

"  Or  forward  ten,"  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco  ;  "  we  can  go  on,  to  be  sure, 
if  we  only  knew  the  way." 

Here  followed  a  long  discussion  as  to  what  it 
was  best  to  do.  Marco  thought  that,  if  there  was 
any  probability  that  the  horse  would  have  stopped 
at  the  tree,  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  go  back 
and  get  him ;  but  that,  if  he  had  got  by  the  tree, 
and  had  gone  home,  it  would  be  better  for  Isaiah 
to  go  back  and  get  him,  while  they  went  forward 
to  the  end  of  the  day's  journey.  He  said  that  the 
trunk  might  be  sent  on. 

Forester  was  himself  very  much  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  it  was  best  to  do.  As  it  was  farther  to  go  back 
than  it  was  to  go  forward,  it  would  be  plainly  best 
for  them  to  keep  on,  were  it  not  for  the  difficulty 
of  finding  their  way.  But  Isaiah  told  them  he 
9* 


102     MAPCQ  PAUL  IN.  THE   FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

thought  they  would  not  have  any  difficulty  on  that 
account,  as  there  were  very  few  roads  in  such  a 
new  country.  He  said  that,  if  they  kept  the  prin 
cipal  road,  they  could  get  along  without  any 
trouble. 

So  Marco  and  Forester  concluded  to  go  on, 
while  Isaiah  returned.  Isaiah  said  that  he  was 
not  afraid  to  return  alone.  He  said  also  that,  if 
be  found  the  horse  at  the  tree,  he  would  turn  ahout 
and  come  and  overtake  them.  And  if  he  did  not 
find  him  there,  he  would  walk  on  home,  and  come 
the  next  day  with  their  trunk. 

Marco  and  Forester  then  went  back  to  the  place 
where  they  had  dined,  and  collected  together  all 
the  food  which  had  been  left,  thinking  that  they 
might  possibly  have  occasion  to  use  it,  before 
getting  to  the  end  of  their  journey.  They  also 
took  the  hatchet  with  them,  and  bidding  Isaiah 
good-by,  they  set  forth  upon  their  solitary  jour 
ney. 

The  road,  though  rough  and  narrow  for  wheels, 
was  very  good  for  a  foot-path,  and  the  travellers 
went  on  for  several  miles  without  difficulty,  and 
with  good  courage.  There  was  an  unbroken 
forest  on  each  side  of  the  way,  with  here  and  there 
a  solitary  bird  in  the  topmost  branches,  singing  in 
melancholy  notes,  which  echoed  far  and  wide  under 
the  endless  colonnades  of  trees.  After  they  had 
gone  on  about  four  miles,  they  met  a  man  coming 
with  a  team,  who  told  them  that  there  was  no  road 
of  any  conseouence  to  turn  them  off,  and  that  they 


THE    ENCAMPMENT.  103 

would,  therefore,  probably  find  their  way  without 
much  trouble.  They  were  quite  pleased  to  hear 
this.  In  fact,  it  was  some  relief  to  them  to  know 
that  they  were  right,  so  far. 

Marco  was,  however,  not  much  accustomed  to 
walk,  and  Forester,  to  accommodate  him,  advanced 
slowly.  When  they  had  gone  about  five  or  six 
miles,  the  shades  of  evening  began  to  draw  on. 
The  days  were  getting  shorter  at  this  season  of 
the  year,  and  then,  besides,  it  happened  that,  on 
this  evening,  there  were  some  dark  clouds  in  the 
west,  and  the  sun  was  darkened  behind  them 
before  the  regular  hour  of  his  going  down.  Then, 
besides,  the  trees  of  the  forest  made  it  darker  in 
the  road  in  which  Marco  and  Forester  were 
travelling. 

Now,  just  as  it  was  thus  beginning  to  grow  dark, 
they  happened  to  come  to  a  place  where  the  road 
divided,  and  Marco  and  Forester  were  both  puzzled 
to  decide  which  was  the  one  which  they  must 
take.  The  roads  seemed  to  be  nearly  equally 
travelled,  though  it  was  so  dark  that  they  could 
not  see  very  well.  They  examined  both  as  care 
fully  as  they  could,  and  finally  decided  according 
to  the  best  of  their  judgment,  and  went  on. 

They  had  some  doubt  whether  they  were  right, 
and  Forester  thought,  as  they  proceeded,  that  the 
road  appeared  somewhat  different  from  the  one  in 
which  they  had  been  travelling.  However,  they 
thought  it  best  to  go  on.  After  advancing  about 
two  miles,  in  a  very  circuitous  direction,  they 


104     MARCO   PAUL  IN   THE   FORESTS   OF   MAINE. 

came  at  last  to  a  place  where  several  trees  seemed 
to  have  been  cut  away,  and  there  were  remains  of 
several  log  huts.  Marco  was  very  much  interested 
in  this  discovery,  and  he  wanted  to  examine  the 
huts  very  particularly.  But  Forester,  when  he 
found  that  they  were  not  inhabited,  thought  it  best 
to  lose  no  time,  especially  as  it  was  now  beginning 
to  be  quite  dark,  and  he  urged  Marco  to  leave  the 
huts  and  press  on. 

They  went  on  for  half  a  mile  farther,  when 
Marco,  seeing  a  glimmer  through  the  trees,  ex 
claimed  that  they  were  coming  to  some  water. 

"  So  it  is,"  said  Forester.  "  It  looks  like  a 
pond  or  a  river.  If  it  is  a  river,  we  're  lost." 

They  walked  on  a  short  distance  farther,  and 
then  they  began  to  hear  the  rippling  of  the  water. 
In  a  few  minutes,  they  were  down  upon  the  bank. 
It  was  a  small  river,  flowing  rapidly  along, 
between  banks  overhung  with  bushes.  Marco 
looked  for  a  bridge,  or  for  some  place  to  cross,  but 
they  found  none.  In  fact,  the  road  did  not  go 
down  to  the  water,  but  seemed  to  lose  itself  among 
the  trees,  before  reaching  the  bank. 

"  This  is  not  our  road,"  said  Forester.  "  We 
must  go  back." 

"  What  road  can  this  be  ?"  asked  Marco.  "  It 
seems  to  lead  nowhere." 

"  I  presume  it  is  a  logging  road,"  replied  For 
ester. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"Why,  I  suppose  that  those  huts  must  have 


THE    ENCAMPMENT.  '     105 

been  a  logging  camp,  where  the  men  lived  in  the 
winter,  when  they  came  here  to  cut  logs  ;  and  this1 
is  the  road  that  they  drew  the  logs  by,  down  to  the 
water.     But  this  summer  it  has  been  neglected. 
They  don't  cut  the  logs  in  the  summer." 

"  And  what  shall  we  do  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  We  must  go  back  to  the  place  where  the  road 
branched  off,"  replied  Forester. 

"  Or  else  go  and  stay  in  the  huts  all  night,"  said 
Marco, 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  we  can  do  that.  Let 
us  go  back  and  see." 

They  accordingly  went  back  to  the  huts.  Marco 
asked  Forester  whether  he  thought  they  had  better 
stay  there. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Forester.  "  Let  us  strike 
a  light,  and  see  how  the  huts  look." 

Marco  took  out  his  match-box,  and,  after  first 
gathering  a  few  dry  sticks,  he  struck  a  light,  and 
soon  made  a  little  fire.  They  found  a  birch  tree 
growing  near,  and  they  stripped  off  some  pieces 
of  the  bark.  These  they  laid  upon  the  fire,  holding 
the  ends  of  two  long  sticks  upon  them,  in  such  a 
manner,  that,  as  the  pieces  of  birch  bark  curled  up 
under  the  influence  of  the  heat,  they  curled  around 
the  ends  of  these  sticks,  thus  making  flambeaux. 
These  flambeaux,  thougli  of  rude  construction, 
gave  a  very  excellent  light,  and  Marco  and  For 
ester  walked  about  the  huts,  waving  them  in  the 
air,  and  illuminating  the  whole  scene  in  a  very 
brilliant  manner. 


106      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

They  found  that  the  huts  were  in  a  ruinous 
state.  Only  one  of  them  had  a  roof,  and  that  had 
been  originally  made  of  hemlock  branches,  which 
had  now  become  entirely  dry  by  long  exposure. 
This  covered  hut  was  only  a  sort  of  booth,  being 
entirely  open  on  one  side.  Forester  said  that  he 
recollected  having  heard  of  such  huts,  and  that 
the  men  built  their  fire,  not  in  them,  but  on  the 
ground  opposite  the  open  side. 

Forester  and  Marco  concluded  to  remain  in  this 
hut  for  the  night.  They  got  together  a  great 
many  hemlock  branches,  which  they  spread  in  the 
bottom  of  it  for  a  bed,  and  they  built  a  fire  opposite 
the  open  part,  to  keep  them  warm. 

Marco  took  a  great  interest  in  this  fire.  He 
piled  the  dry  sticks  upon  it  until  he  had  a  very 
warm  and  cheerful  blaze,  and  then  he  collected  by 
the  side  of  it  a  heap  of  fuel,  to  use  during  the 
night. 

In  fact,  Marco  raised  his  fire  too  high  ;  for,  from 
the  column  of  smoke  and  sparks,  one  little  brilliant 
fragment  lighted  upon  their  roof;  and  it  was 
slowly  burning  and  smoking  there,  while  Forester 
and  Marco  were  opening  their  bag  of  provisions, 
to  see  what  they  could  make  out  for  supper. 

Marco  was  counting  out  the  potatoes,  saying, 
"  two  for  you,  and  two  for  me,"  when  his  attention 
was  arrested  by  a  spark  which,  at  that  instant,  fell 
into  his  lap.  He  looked  up  to  see  where  it  came 
from,  and  saw  that  the  fire,  which  had  spread  from 
the  original  spark  which  had  fallen  upon  the  roof, 


THE    ENCAMPMENT.  107 

had  burned  a  hole  through,  and  the  air,  which  was 
drawn  up  through  the  opening,  was  at  that  moment 
fanning  it  into  a  flame. 

Marco  ran  out,  calling  out,  "  Get  some  water  ! 
Get  some  water  ! " 

There  was  plenty  of  water  in  a  brook,  which 
flowed  with  a  murmuring  sound  down  a  little  glen 
behind  the  huts,  but  there  were  no  buckets,  and 
Marco  called  in  vain.  It  would  have  been  equally 
useless  to  have  raised  an  alarm  of  fire,  as  there 
was  nobody  within  ten  miles  to  hear  the  cry.  The 
flames  spread  rapidly,  and  Forester  and  Marco 
soon  saw  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  for 
them  to  stand  quietly  by  and  witness  the  con 
flagration.  The  flames  rose  very  high  and  raged 
fiercely,  and  the  light  shone  far  into  the  forest, 
bringing  into  distinct  view  the  whole  scene  around, 
which  had  been  involved  in  deep  obscurity.  The 
roof  was  soon  consumed,  but  the  logs,  of  which  the 
walls  had  been  built,  were  much  longer  in  burning. 
The  fire  made  by  these  logs,  when  they  fell  in 
together  upon  the  bed  which  Forester  and  Marco 
had  prepared,  was  so  intensely  hot  that  it  could 
not  be  approached  for  a  long  time. 

As  soon  as  the  intensity  of  this  fire  had  a  little 
declined,  Forester  said  that  they  must  go  to  work 
and  build  themselves  another  hut.  They  examined 
the  ruins  of  those  which  remained,  but  they  con 
cluded  that  it  would  be  better  to  build  a  new  one 
than  to  attempt  to  repair  one  of  these.  They 
accordingly  determined  to  build  one  anew. 


108      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

They  found  two  young  trees,  growing  pretty 
near  each  other,  which  had  branches  about  six  feet 
from  the  ground,  so  situated  that  they  could  place 
a  strong  pole  across  from  one  tree  to  the  other, 
resting  the  ends  upon  the  branches.  This,  Marco 
called  the  ridge-pole.  They  then  cut  other  poles, 
which  they  placed  with  the  end  on  one  side  upon 
the  ground,  and  the  other  ends  upon  the  ridge-pole. 
These  were  rafters,  and  upon  the  rafters  they 
placed  a  great  many  branches  of  hemlock,  which 
formed  a  roof.  This  roof,  however,  was  only  upon 


one  side.  The  other  side  of  the  hut  was  open, 
and  they  built  a  fire  opposite  this  opening,  feeling 
safe  in  regard  to  their  roof,  as  it  was  made  of 
green  branches. 

This  work  occupied  them  an  hour.     At  the  end 


THE  ENCAMPMENT. 


109 


of  that  time,  they  put  their  potatoes  into  the  fire  to 
roast,  and  then  laid  down  upon  the  hemlock  beds 
which  they  made,  to  rest  themselves  a  little  while, 
till  the  potatoes  should  be  done.  Wearied  with 
their  long  walk  and  the  labors  of  the  evening,  they 
fell  asleep,  and  did  not  wake  again  till  four  o'clock 
the  next  morning. 
10 


CHAPTER  X. 
LOST    IN    THE    WOODS. 

WHEN  Marco  awoke,  he  at  first  supposed  that 
he  had  been  asleep  about  an  hour,  and  he  was 
surprised  to  see  how  much  the  fire  had  burned 
down  in  that  time.  He  crept  towards  it,  and 
began  to  put  the  brands  together,  when  suddenly 
he  recollected  the  potatoes.  So  he  began  to  feel 
for  them  in  the  ashes,  by  means  of  a  long  stick, 
which  they  had  obtained  for  a  poker.  The 
potatoes  were  all  burnt  to  a  cinder. 

Marco  then  awoke  Forester,  saying, 

"  Cousin  Forester  !  cousin  Forester !  wake  up. 
The  fire  has  gone  out,  and  our  potatoes  are  all 
burnt  up." 

Forester  awoke,  and,  after  looking  at  the  fire, 
and  at  the  charred  and  blackened  remains  of  the 
potatoes  a  moment,  he  took  out  his  watch,  and 
said, 

"  Why,  Marco,  it  is  four  o'clock.  It  is  almost 
morning." 

"  Is  it  ?"  said  Marco.  "  Then  we  have  not  got 
much  more  time  to  sleep.  Let  us  build  up  a  good 
fire,  and  then  lie  down  again." 


LOST    IN   THE    WOODS.  Ill 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester.  "  We  must  keep  up 
a  good  fire,  or  we  shall  take  cold,  it  is  such  a  cool 
night.  It  looks  as  if  it  were  going  to  rain." 

"  What  shall  we  do  in  that  case  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Forester.  "  It  would 
be  rather  a  hard  case  for  us." 

"  We  could  stay  here,  I  suppose,"  said  Marco. 
4*  I  don't  think  the  rain  would  come  through  our 
roof." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  not  much.  But  then  we 
have  nothing  to  eat." 

"  Could  not  we  get  anything  to  eat  about  here  ? " 
asked  Marco. 

"  Not  very  well,"  replied  Forester.  "  We  have 
got  money  enough,  but  this  is  a  case  where  money 
does  not  seem  to  be  of  any  use." 

"  How  do  the  men  who  come  here  in  the  winter 
to  cut  down  the  trees,  get  anything  to  eat  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  0,  they  bring  it  all  with  them,"  said  Forester. 
"  The  roads  are  better,  in  the  winter,  for  sleds  and 
sleighs,  than  they  are  now  for  wheels ;  for  then 
all  the  stumps  and  roughnesses  are  covered  up 
with  the  snow.  So,  wherever  there  is  a  camp, 
there  is  a  road  leading  to  it,  and  sleigh  loads  of 
provisions  are  brought  up  for  the  men,  from  time 
to  time,  all  the  winter." 

"  I  wish  one  would  come  now,"  said  Marco, 
"  to  us." 

"  I  wish  so  too,"  said  Forester.     "  But  it  is  of 


112      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

no  use  to  wish,  and  so  we  may  as  well  lie  down 
and  go  to  sleep  again." 

"  But,  Forester,"  said  Marco,  "  I  don't  see  what 
we  are  going  to  do  if  it  rains." 

"  Nor  do  I,"  said  Forester.  "  But  this  is  not 
the  time  for  forming  a  plan.  This  is  the  time  for 
going  to  sleep.  I  make  it  a  rule,  in  all  perplexities 
and  troubles,  when  there  is  nothing  to  be  done 
immediately  in  order  to  get  out  of  them,  to  lie 
down  and  go  to  sleep." 

Marco  said  no  more,  and  Forester  was  soon 
asleep  again.  Marco  himself  felt  so  much  concern 
about  his  situation  that  he  could  not  go  to  sleep 
for  some  time.  He  lay  watching  the  flames, 
which  were  creeping  slowly  around  the  logs 
which  he  and  Forester  had  put  upon  the  fire  ;  for, 
while  they  had  been  holding  the  conversation  above 
described,  they  had  been  employed  in  replenishing 
the  fire. 

Marco  heard  a  sound,  which,  at  first,  he  thought 
was  a  bear.  He  was  on  the  point  of  awakening 
Forester,  but,  after  listening  a  little  longer,  he 
concluded  that  it  was  only  the  roaring  of  the  wind 
upon  the  tops  of  the  trees.  After  lifting  his  head 
from  his  pillow  of  hemlock  branches  for  a  moment, 
until  he  satisfied  himself  that  it  was  no  wild  beast, 
he  lay  down  again  and  went  to  sleep. 

He  was  awakened  again,  about  three  hours 
afterwards,  by  a  long  rumbling  clap  of  thunder. 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  said  Forester.     "  Thunder  ?  " 

"  I  believe  it  is,"  said  Marco. 


LOST    IN    THE    WOODS.  113 

"  And  it  rains,  I  believe,"  said  Forester. 

Marco  raised  his  head,  and  looked  out  through 
the  open  part  of  the  hut.  He  saw  the  drops  of 
rain  descending,  and  he  heard  the  murmuring 
sound  which  the  rain  makes  when  falling  upon 
the  leaves  in  a  forest.  He  saw,  too,  that  every 
thing  was  wet  in  the  opening  about  the  hut, 
although  it  seemed  dry  in  the  forest  beyond,  where 
the  drops  of  rain  had  been  intercepted  by  the  leaves 
of  the  trees. 

"  We  must  get  our  wood  under  cover,"  said 
Marco,  "  or  it  will  get  wet  and  won't  burn,  and 
then  our  fire  will  go  out." 

"  True,"  said  Forester.  "  There  is  room  for 
some  of  it  in  this  hut.  Let  us  get  up  and  put 
it  in." 

So  Marco  and  Forester  arose,  and,  as  they  were 
already  dressed,  they  were  soon  at  work,  putting 
the  logs  into  the  hut.  Marco  then  proposed  that 
they  should  go  into  the  forest,  where  it  did  not 
rain,  and  get  some  more  wood.  But  Forester  said 
he  thought  that  would  be  of  no  service,  as  they 
had  no  provisions,  and,  of  course,  could  not  stay 
there.  "  We  must  go,"  said  he,  "  at  any  rate, 
whether  it  rains  or  not ;  for  it  is  better  to  get  wet 
than  to  starve." 

"  We  have  got  something  left  in  our  bag,"  said 
Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  just  enough  for 
breakfast." 

"  How  I  wish  I  had  a  bushel  of  potatoes,"  said 


114      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

Marco.  "  Then  we  could  stay  here  a  week.  Only 
we  should  want  a  little  salt  too." 

Forester  opened  the  bag  and  took  out  the  pro 
visions  which  were  left.  They  found  about  enough 
for  a  breakfast  for  them,  but  they  concluded  to  eat 
but  half  of  their  supply,  as  Forester  thought  it  was 
best  that  they  should  put  themselves  upon  short 
allowance. 

"  You  see,  it  is  possible"  said  Forester,  "  that 
we  may  be  kept  here  in  the  woods  a  day  or  two; 
so  we  must  use  our  provisions  economically." 

After  breakfast,  they  went  into  the  forest  a  little 
way,  where  they  found  that  they  were  protected 
from  the  rain  by  the  trees.  This  proved,  as  For 
ester  said,  that  it  had  not  been  raining  very  long ; 
and  he  thought,  from  appearances,  that  it  would 
soon  clear  up. 

At  a  little  distance  from  their  encampment,  they 
found  another  hut,  which  was  in  better  condition 
than  either  of  those  which  they  had  seen  before. 
It  was  covered  with  strips  of  birch  bark,  which 
made  a  very  good  roof.  Some  of  these  strips,  or 
rather  sheets,  for  they  were  quite  large,  had  fallen 
down,  and  Marco  ran  and  got  one  of  them,  ex 
claiming, 

"  What  a  monstrous  sheet  of  birch  bark  ! " 

This  sheet,  which  Marco  lifted  up  from  the 
ground  where  it  was  lying,  was  about  four  feet 
long  and  two  feet  wide.  Marco  wondered  that  so 
large  a  sheet  could  be  got  from  any  tree. 


LOST    IN    THE    WOODS.  115 

"  What  a  monstrous  tree  it  must  have  been ! " 
said  he  to  Forester. 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  not  very  large.  This 
sheet  is  about  four  feet  long,  which  would  make 
the  tree  only  about  sixteen  inches  in  diameter." 

"  How  do  you  prove  that  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  the  distance  through  a  tree  is  about  one 
third  the  distance  round  it,"  replied  Forester. 
"  Now,  this  bark  grew  around  the  tree,  and  it  is 
about  four  feet  long.  Four  feet  is  forty-eight 
inches,  and  one-third  of  forty-eight  is  sixteen. 
Now,  sixteen  inches  in  diameter  would  not  be  a 
very  large  tree." 

"  I  mean  to  try  this  bark  on  some  of  these  trees," 
said  Marco,  "  to  see  how  big  a  tree  it  will  fit." 

So  Marco  took  up  the  sheet  of  bark.  It  was 
white  and  clean,  especially  on  the  outside,  having 
been  blanched  by  the  summer  rains.  Marco,  in 
order  to  carry  the  sheet  more  easily,  put  it  upon 
his  shoulders,  drawing  it  up  around  his  neck  like 
a  shawl. 

"  Cousin  Forester,"  said  he,  "  see  my  shawl.  It 
would  do  for  an  umbrella,  if  I  only  had  a  handle." 

So  saying,  Marco  drew  the  sheet  of  bark  up 
higher,  holding  it  in  such  a  manner  that  it  covered 
his  cap,  rising  into  a  point  above  his  head.  He 
held  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  a  little  crevice 
open  in  front,  to  peep  through,  in  order  that  he 
might  see  where  he  was  going. 

"  See,  Forester,"  said  he, — "  see  my  umbrella." 

Forester  looked  at  Marco's  contrivance,  and  he 


116      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

immediately  thought  that  such  a  sheet  would  be 
an  important  protection  to  the  head  and  neck,  in 
case  they  had  to  walk  in  the  rain.  He  accordingly 
went  to  the  hut  and  selected  a  sheet  for  himself, 
saying, 

"  This  is  not  a  bad  plan.  The  most  important 
point  is  to  protect  the  head  and  neck,  and  this  will 
do  it  pretty  well.  We  can  roll  the  sheets  up  and 
carry  them  under  our  arms,  unless  it  rains  fast, 
and  then  we  can  wrap  them  around  us." 


Having  thus  found  a  rude  substitute  for  an  um 
brella,  Forester  thought  that  it  would  be  best  for 
them  to  set  out  on  their  journey.  They  accord 
ingly  returned  to  their  encampment,  and  made 
preparations  for  resuming  their  march.  As  it  was 
raining  but  very  little  at  that  time,  they  rolled  up 
their  umbrellas  and  carried  them  under  their  arms. 
Marco  took  the  hatchet,  and  Forester  the  bag  of 


LOST    IN   THE    WOODS.  117 

provisions.  Marco  wanted  to  set  fire  to  the  hut 
which  had  sheltered  them  for  the  night.  He 
wanted  Forester  to  hear  what  a  loud  crackling  the 
green  hemlock  branches,  which  they  had  put  upon 
the  roof,  would  make,  when  the  flames  from  the 
wood  below  should  envelop  them. 

But  Forester  would  not  consent  to  this.  He 
said  that  some  accident  might  possibly  happen,  by 
which  they  should  be  obliged  to  come  back  and 
spend  another  night  there,  though  he  hoped  such 
a  measure  would  not  be  necessary. 

"  I  hope  so,  too,"  said  Marco. 

"  We  may  lose  our  way  again,"  said  Forester. 

"  But  then,"  said  Marco,  "  we  shall  not  come 
back  to  this  place." 

"Why,  I  have  heard,"  said  Forester,  "of  people 
losing  their  way  in  the  woods,  and,  after  a  great 
deal  of  wandering,  getting  back  to  the  place  they 
started  from.  So  that,  possibly,  we  may  wander 
about  all  day,  and  get  back  here  at  night." 

"  I  hope  not,  I  'm  sure,"  said  Marco.  "  I  am 
tired  of  this  old  hovel." 

"  Why,  the  lumber-men  stay  in  these  places  all 
winter,"  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Marco,  "  but  then  they  know  that 
they  can  get  out  whenever  they  please.  We  don't 
know  that  we  can  ever  get  out." 

"  That  is  true,"  said  Forester,  "  and  it  makes  a 
great  difference." 

"  Don't  you  feel  concerned  about  our  finding  our 
way  out?"  asked  Marco. 


118      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

"  No,"  said  Forester.  "  1  make  it  a  rule  never 
to  be  concerned,  about  anything." 

<fc  Oh,  Forester!"  said  Marco, — "I  think  we 
ought  to  be  concerned  when  we  get  lost  in  the 
woods." 

"  No,"  replied  Forester.  "  We  ought  to  do  the 
best  we  can  to  get  out,  but  not  to  be  concerned. 
To  be  concerned  is  to  be  anxious  and  unhappy. 
This  does  no  good.  Being  concerned  would  never 
help  us  find  our  way  out  of  the  woods." 

Thus  talking,  the  two  unfortunate  travellers 
walked  on,  with  their  rolls  under  their  arms.  It 
was  well  that  they  took  them,  for,  after  they  had 
been  walking  about  half  an  hour,  the  sky  grew 
dark,  and,  a  short  time  afterwards,  the  rain  began 
to  come  down  in  torrents.  Forester  and  Marco 
unrolled  their  umbrellas,  and  wrapped  them  about 
their  shoulders  and  heads  ;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
they  fled  for  shelter  under  an  enormous  pine  tree, 
which  grew  in  such  a  spot  that  its  branches  ex 
tended  in  every  direction,  and  formed  a  canopy 
above  them,  which  kept  off  a  great  deal  of  the  rain. 
When  the  rain  abated  a  little,  they  walked  on. 

Their  plan  was  to  get  back  to  the  place  where 
they  had  left  the  main  road  the  day  before.  But  they 
were  somewhat  perplexed  to  find  it.  In  fact,  they 
met  with  several  roads  which  branched  off  from 
the  one  in  which  they  were  walking.  These  were 
old  tracks,  made  by  the  lumber-men,  and  were 
partly  grown  up  to  bushes.  They  wandered  about 
among  these  paths  for  some  time,  and  at  last,  to  their 


LOST    IN    THE    WOODS.  119 

great  joy,  they  came  out  into  a  good  beaten  road, 
which  Forester  immediately  thought  was  the  one 
which  they  had  been  travelling  in  the  day  before. 
Notwithstanding  Forester's  philosophical  resolu 
tion,  never  to  be  concerned,  he  could  not  help  con 
fessing  that  he  felt  somewhat  relieved  to  find  the 
right  road  again  ;  and,  as  the  sun  was  just  breaking 
through  the  clouds  at  this  time,  they  both  thought 
that  their  prospects  were  brightening  considerably. 


CHAPTER  XL 
THE    SHINGLE    WEAVER'S. 

THE  travellers  walked  on  with  fresh  strength 
and  courage,  now  that  they  thought  they  were  in 
the  right  road.  The  road  was,  however,  mo 
notonous,  being,  for  most  of  the  way,  through  a 
dense  forest;  and  it  was  so  very  similar  to  the 
road  by  which  they  had  come  the  day  before  that 
they  were  convinced  they  were  now  right. 

They  went  on,  without  any  special  adventure, 
for  nearly  two  hours,  when  they  arrived  at  what 
had  the  appearance  of  being  an  old  wood  road, 
which  branched  off  at  right  angles  to  the  one  in 
which  they  were  travelling.  The  trees  were  some 
what  more  open  here.  This  admitted  the  sun ;  and 
there  were  several  raspberry  bushes  growing  at  the 
entrance  of  the  wood  road,  with  ripe  raspberries 
hanging  upon  them,  for  the  season  of  raspberries 
had  now  arrived. 

Marco  seized  this  fruit  with  great  avidity.  For 
ester  followed  his  example,  and  began  gathering 
the  berries.  The  bushes  were,  however,  not  en 
tirely  dry,  and  they  had  to  advance  cautiously 
among  them.  In  fact,  they  found  it  better  to  keep 


THE    SHINGLE    WEAVER'S.  121 

along  the  wood  road,  gathering  the  berries  as  they 
advanced.  It  was  not  a  road,  strictly  speaking, 
for  there  were  no  marks  of  wheels  upon  it,  or  tracks 
of  any  sort,  made  by  travelling.  It  was  only  a 
space  for  a  road,  made  by  cutting  away  the  trees 
and  bushes. 

Along  this  opening,  Forester  and  Marco  slowly 
advanced,  eating  the  raspberries  which  grew  by 
the  side  of  the  way.  After  going  on  for  a  few 
rods  in  this  manner,  Marco  suddenly  exclaimed, 

"  Why,  here  is  another  camp  ! " 

Forester  looked  up  and  saw,  just  before  them, 
the  remains  of  a  sort  of  hut,  somewhat  similar  to 
those  which  they  had  seen  the  evening  before. 
There  was  a  large  heap  of  chips  and  shavings 
about  it. 

"  What  can  this  be  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  1  presume,"  said  Forester,  "  that  it  is  an  old 
shingle  weaver's  establishment." 

"  What  is  a  shingle  weaver  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  A  man  who  makes  shingles,"  replied  Forester, 
"  such  as  they  use  for  covering  houses.  They 
make  them  of  clear  straight-grained  pine,  which 
will  split  easily  and  true." 

So  saying,  Forester  advanced  towards  the  hut, 
and  took  up  one  of  the  pieces  of  pine,  which  had 
been  split  out  for  a  shingle.  There  were  several 
of  such  pieces  lying  about  among  the  chips  and 
shavings.  It  was  somewhat  browned  by  exposure 
to  the  weather,  but  it  had  a  very  smooth  and 
11 


122       MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

glossy  appearance,  shining  with  a  sort  of  silken 
lustre. 

"  This  is  a  beautiful  piece  of  pine,"  said  For 
ester. 

"  Let  us  carry  some  of  it  home,"  rejoined  Marco. 

"  What  good  would  it  do  us  ?"  asked  Forester. 

"  Why,  we  might  make  something  of  it,"  said 
Marco.  "  Perhaps  I  could  make  a  little  box." 

"  And  that  would  serve  as  a  souvenir  of  this 
expedition,"  added  Forester. 

"  A  souvenir  ? "  said  Marco, — "  what  is  that  ?  " 

"  Why,  something  to  remember  it  by,"  replied 
Forester.  "  Hereafter,  whenever  you  should  see 
the  box,  you  would  be  reminded  of  our  wanderings 
and  perils  in  this  wilderness." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  let  us  take  it." 

The  farther  conversation  of  our  adventurers  was 
interrupted  by  a  sound,  like  that  of  wagon  wheels, 
coming  along  the  main  road,  which  they  had  just 
left. 

"  There  comes  some  traveller,"  exclaimed  For 
ester.  "  Let'us  go  and  enquire  about  our  way." 

"  Hark ! "  said  Marco. 

At  this  instant,  the  sound  of  the  wheels  suddenly 
stopped,  and  Marco  and  Forester  heard  the  voice 
of  a  man  calling  out  earnestly  to  his  horse, "  Whoa  ! 
whoa!"  as  if  something  had  happened.  Marco 
and  Forester  hastened  to  the  spot,  where  they 
found  that  the  horse  had  fallen  down,  and  the  man 
was  trying  in  vain  to  get  him  up.  The  harness 


THE    SHINGLE    WEAVER'S.  123 

was  drawn  so  tight  about  the  horse's  limbs,  by  the 
constrained  position  in  which  he  was  lying,  that 
he  could  not  get  up,  and  the  man  could  not  ex 
tricate  him,  The  man  had  gone  behind,  and  had 
drawn  the  wagon  back,  so  as  to  loosen  the  pressure 
of  the  harness  upon  the  horse,  but,  until  Forester 
and  Marco  came,  there  was  no  one  to  unbuckle 
the  straps  when  they  were  thus  loosened ;  and,  if 
the  man  let  go  of  the  wagon,  to  go  and  unbuckle 
the  harness,  it  was  drawn  back  again  at  once  by 
the  tension  of  the  straps,  and  made  as  tight  as 
before. 

He  was,  therefore,  very  glad  to  see  Forester  and 
Marco  coming.  He  asked  them  to  come  and  help 
him.  ^ 

Forester  and  Marco  were  immediately  going  to 
attempt  to  unbuckle  the  harness,  but  the  man  told 
them  that  there  was  danger  of  their  getting  kicked 
by  the  horse,  in  case  he  should  suddenly  begin  to 
struggle. 

"  Come  here,"  said  the  man,  "  and  hold  the 
wagon  back,  and  I  will  loosen  the  harness." 

By  means  of  this  plan  of  operations,  the  horse 
was  soon  liberated  from  his  confinement,  and  he 
got  up.  The  man  seemed  very  thankful  to  For 
ester  and  Marco,  and  he  asked  them  where  they 
were  going. 

"  We  are  going  to  No.  3,"  said  Forester.  "  Is 
this  the  right  way  ? " 

The  townships  in  a  new  country  are  numbered 
at  first,  not  named.  The  place  t.n  which  Marco 


124      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

and  Forester  were  going  had  yet  very  few  in 
habitants,  and  it  had  no  name  but  No.  3. 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  man,  "  this  is  the  right  road. 
I  wish  I  was  going  that  way,  I  would  take  you 
along  in  my  wagon." 

This  answer  puzzled  Marco  a  little,  on  two 
accounts.  First,  the  man  icas  going  the  same 
way  with  them,  but  then  Marco  thought  that, 
perhaps,  he  was  going  to  turn  off,  pretty  soon,  into 
some  other  road.  Then,  secondly,  he  did  not  see 
how  the  man  could  possibly  carry  him  and  For 
ester,  in  any  event,  as  the  wagon  seemed  completely 
filled  with  bags,  and  kegs,  and  firkins,  leaving 
scarcely  room  for  the  man  himself  to  sit. 

Forester  t^ld  the  man  that  they  could  walk  very 
well ;  but  he  said  that  they  were  hungry,  and  if 
the  man  had  anything  to  eat,  in  his  wagon,  they 
should  be  glad  to  buy  something  of  him. 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  man,  "  I  've  a  loaf  of  bread 
that  I  can  spare,  and  a  jug  of  milk." 

"  That  will  be  just  the  thing,"  said  Marco. 

At  first,  the  man  was  not  willing  to  receive  any 
thing  for  the  bread  and  milk,  but  as  Forester 
insisted  upon  it,  he  consented  to  take  a  little  pay. 
He  then  told  Forester  that  he  had  some  honey  in 
his  wagon,  and  a  few  apples,  and  Forester  bought 
a  supply  of  these.  At  first,  they  thought  they 
should  not  have  anything  to  put  the  honey  in,  but 
Marco  ran  to  the  shingle  weaver's  hut,  and  got  one 
of  the  thin  pieces  which  had  been  split  out  for 
shingles,  and  it  made  a  very  good  plate.  Forester 


THE    SHINGLE    WEAVER'S.  125 

bought  a  pound  of  the  honey,  and  half  a  dozen 
apples. 

They  then  bade  the  man  good-by,  and  he 
resumed  his  journey.  Forester  and  Marco  went 
back  to  the  hut,  wher*e  they  had  a  most  excellent 
dinner.  They  built  a  fire,  and  roasted  the  apples 
and  toasted  the  bread.  They  cut  it  into  slices 
with  Marco's  knife.  They  made  wooden  spoons 
for  the  honey  out  of  pieces  of  pine,  which  answered 
very  well  indeed.  Marco  said  it  was  the  very  best 
dinner  he  ever  ate  in  his  life. 

After  dinner,  they  returned  to  the  main  road, 
and  resumed  their  walk.  Forester  said  he  wished 
he  had  asked  the  man  how  far  it  was  to  No.  3,  but 
he  thought  it  could  not  be  very  far,  as  they  had 
been  travelling  nearly  three  hours,  and  it  was  only 
about  ten  miles  in  the  morning. 

As  he  was  saying  this,  they  were  just  ascending 
a  hill,  and  when  they  reached  the  top  of  it,  they 
had  a  prospect  of  the  road  for  a  considerable  dis 
tance  before  them.  Marco  thought  he  saw  some 
thing  coming,  and  he  asked  Forester  what  it  was. 

"  I  think  it  is  only  a  stump,  or  something  like 
that,"  said  Forester. 

"  No,  it  moves,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  is  another  wagon,"  said  Forester,  "  I  really 
believe.  Now  we  can  find  out  how  far  it  is  to 
No.  3." 

It  was  very  soon  quite  evident  that  it  was  a 
wagon,  and  that  it  was  coming  on  apace.  As  it 
drew  nearer,  it  appeared  that  there  was  a  boy  in  it. 
11* 


126       MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

"  He  is  just  about  as  big  as  Isaiah,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester.  "  And  the  horse  looks 
very  much  like  the  horse  Isaiah  had." 

"  I  verily  believe  it  is  Isaiah,"  said  Marco. 

This  supposition  was  confirmed  as  the  wagon 
drew  near.  The  boy  was  Isaiah,  but  he  stared  at 
Marco  and  Forester  with  a  look  of  perplexity  and 
wonder,  as  if  he  was  very  much  surprised  to  see 
them. 

"  Isaiah  ! "  said  Marco,  accosting  him,  as  soon 
as  Isaiah  drew  up  the  reins  and  stopped  the  horse 
opposite  to  them. 

"  What  are  you  coming  back  for  ? "  asked  Isaiah. 

"  Coming  back  ! "  repeated  Forester,  not  know 
ing  exactly  what  Isaiah  meant. 

"  Yes,"  said  Isaiah.  "  I  thought  you  were  going 
to  stay  at  No.  3,  and  I  was  going  to  carry  your 
trunk  there." 

It  immediately  flashed  upon  Forester's  mind 
that  they  had  got  turned  about  in  their  wanderings, 
and,  instead  of  going  on  towards  No.  3,  as  they 
supposed,  they  were  in  reality,  though  in  the  right 
road,  going  the  wrong  way  in  it. 

Forester  had  a  hearty  laugh  at  this  discovery, 
in  which  Marco  joined,  as  soon  as  he  fairly  under 
stood  the  case.  At  first,  he  was  very  much  per 
plexed.  He  could  not  believe  that  they  could 
have  got  their  ideas  of  direction  so  completely  re 
versed. 

"  Besides,"  said  he,  "  that  man  told  us  that  we 
were  in  the  right  way." 


THE    SHINGLE    WEAVER'S.  127 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  but  he  did  not  tell  us 
that  we  were  going  right  in  it." 

"  I  suppose  he  did  not  know  which  way  we 
were  going,"  said  Marco. 

The  question  then  arose,  what  was  to  be  done. 
Forester  proposed  that  they  should  get  into  the 
wagon  and  let  Isaiah  drive  them  to  No.  3,  but 
Marco  said  that  he  was  commander,  and  he  was 
not  going  to  try  to  get  to  No.  3  any  more.  He 
had  been  travelling  back  and  forth  through  those 
woods  long  enough,  and  he  declared  that  he 
would  not  vote  to  go  through  them  again,  if  he 
had  to  go  round  the  world  to  get  to  the  other  side 
of  them. 

Forester  laughed  and  submitted  to  the  decision  ; 
so  they  all  returned  to  Isaiah's  father's. 

The  next  morning  they  formed  a  different  plan 
for  pursuing  their  journey.  They  wanted  to  get 
to  the  Quebec  road  now,  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
they  found,  by  enquiry,  that,  by  taking  a  boat  upon 
a  large  pond  or  lake,  a  few  miles  distant,  they 
could  go  about  twenty  miles  by  water,  through  a 
chain  of  ponds,  which  led  in  the  direction  in  which 
they  wished  to  go. 

So  Forester  hired  a  man  to  go  with  them  and 
bring  back  the  boat.  They  went,  in  a  wagon,  to  a 
place  very  near  the  landing,  at  the  pond.  The 
landing  was  in  a  small  cove,  surrounded  by  forests. 
The  cove  opened  out  into  the  pond  by  two  points 
of  land,  rocky  and  precipitous,  and  crowned  with 
evergreen  trees.  The  water  was  smooth,  and  the 


128     MARCO   PAUL  IN  THE   FORESTS   OF  MAINE. 

whole  scene  highly  picturesque.  When  Marco 
came  in  sight  of  it,  he  was  much  pleased  with  the 
prospect  of  a  voyage  on  such  a  sheet  of  water. 

There  was  considerable  water  in  the  boat  when 
the  party  arrived  on  the  beach,  and  Forester 
undertook  to  bail  it  out.  The  man  who  was 
going  with  them  went  and  cut  a  bush,  with  a  thick 
top,  to  use  as  a  sail,  in  case  there  should  be  a  fair 
wind.  While  he  was  bringing  the  bush,  and  For 
ester  was  bailing  out  the  boat,  Marco  stood  upon 
the  beach,  looking  at  the  paddles. 

"Does  she  leak,  cousin  Forester?"  asked 
Marco. 


"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  I  presume  not.  This 
water  all  comes  from  the  rain." 

"I'm  glad  to  hear  that,"  said  Marco,  "for  I 
don't  want  to  go  to  sea  in  a  leaky  ship." 

There  was  a  great  basket  of  provisions  on  the 


THE    SHINGLE    WEAVER'S.  129 

beach,  by  the  side  of  Marco,  while  these  prepara 
tions  were  making,  for  they  were  resolved  not  to 
expose  themselves,  a  second  time,  to  the  danger  of 
famine.  When  all  was  ready,  the  bush,  the  basket 
and  the  paddles  were  put  on  board,  and  our  adven 
turers,  after  gliding  smoothly  through  the  water 
to  the  outlet  of  the  cove,  doubled  one  of  the  rocky 
points  of  land,  and  pushed  boldly  out  upon  the 
waters  of  the  pond. 
10 


CHAPTER  XII. 
A  VOYAGE  ON  THE  POND. 

As  the  boat  moved  on,  propelled  by  the  paddles, 
which  Forester  and  the  man  who  accompanied 
them  were  plying,  Marco  sat  upon  a  thwart,  and 
gazed  upon  the  picturesque  and  romantic  scene 
around  him.  The  shores  of  the  lake,  or  pond, 
formed  many  beautiful  points  and  promontories, 
with  deep  bays  between  them.  There  were  a 
great  many  islands  too,  scattered  over  its  surface. 
Marco  wanted  to  land  upon  some  of  these,  but 
Forester  thought  that  they  had  better  make  the 
best  of  their  way  towards  their  destined  port. 

Marco  contented  himself,  therefore,  with  gazing 
on  the  changing  scenery,  as  they  passed,  in  suc 
cession,  one  island  and  promontory  after  another. 
The  whole  country  was  covered  with  forests, 
except  that  here  and  there  was  an  opening,  with 
the  house  and  barn  of  a  settler  in  the  middle  of  it. 
Smokes  were  rising,  too,  in  various  directions, 
where  new  clearings  were  in  progress.  There 
was  one  in  particular,  on  the  side  of  a  distant  hill, 
which  rose  in  such  dense  white  volumes  as 
especially  to  attract  Marco's  attention. 


A   VOYAGE    ON   THE    POND.  131 

When  Marco  had  admired  these  objects  long 
enough,  he  leaned  a  little  over  the  side  of  the  boat, 
and  began  to  look  down  into  the  water.  The 
water  was  not  deep,  and  the  bottom  was  smooth 
and  sandy.  They  glided  rapidly  along  over  these 
sands.  Marco's  leaning  caused  the  boat  to  incline 
a  little  to  one  side  ;  but  Forester,  instead  of  asking 
him  not  to  lean  over  so,  just  moved  himself  a  little 
in  the  contrary  direction,  and  thus  restored  the 
equilibrium. 

"  There,  Forester,"  said  Marco,  suddenly  rais 
ing  himself,  "  I  forgot  one  thing." 

"  What  is  that  ?"  said  Forester. 

"  I  forgot  my  piece  of  wood  to  make  a  box  of." 

"  I  am  very  sorry,"  said  Forester.  "  But  then 
you  can  get  another  piece,  perhaps,  before  we  get 
to  the  end  of  our  journey." 

"  But  I  wanted  a  piece  from  that  very  hut,  so 
as  to  make  the  box  a  souvenir  of  our  having  got 
lost  in  the  woods,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  Forester,  "  that  would  have 
been  very  pleasant, — but,  perhaps,  we  shall  meet 
with  some  other  odd  adventure,  which  will  be  as 
good  as  being  lost  in  the  woods." 

"  I  don't  think  being  lost  in  the  woods  is  any 
thing  very  good,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  is  not  a  very  good  thing  at  the  time,  but  the 
recollection  of  such  adventures  and  dangers  is 
always  pleasant  afterwards.  You  see  you  specially 
want  a  souvenir  of  it. 

"  But,  Marco,"   continued   Forester,   "  I  have 


132      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

thought  of  something  which  will  be,  perhaps, 
better  than  a  box.  At  any  rate,  it  will  be  more 
convenient  to  make." 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  A  little  press  for  pressing  flowers,"  replied  For 
ester. 

"  How  could  I  make  it  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Have  two  pieces  of  pine  wood,  planed  out 
thin,"  said  Forester.  "  They  might  be  varnished, 
and  that  would  make  them  look  very  neat  and 
pretty." 

"  How  large  must  they  be  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Oh,  about  as  large,"  replied  Forester,  "  as  the 
covers  of  a  small  book.  Just  large  enough  to 
make  it  convenient  to  carry  in  the  pocket.  Then 
you  must  have  some  pieces  of  soft  paper,  of  the 
same  size  and  shape,  to  put  between  them.  You 
must  also  have  a  piece  of  cord  or  braid,  or  something 
of  that  kind,  to  tie  around  them,  to  keep  them  to 
gether.  Then,  when  you  are  travelling,  if  you  find 
any  pretty  flower,  you  can  put  it  into  this  press, 
and  put  the  press  in  your  pocket.  Thus,  the  press 
will  not  only  be  a  souvenir  itself,  but  it  will  pro 
cure  for  you  a  great  many  other  souvenirs." 

"  That 's  an  excellent  plan,"  said  Marco.  "  I 
like  it  very  much.  That  will  be  better  than  a  box. " 

"  It  will  be  easier  to  make,  at  any  rate,"  replied 
Forester.  "  Any  joiner  can  plane  out  and  square 
the  boards  for  you." 

**  Yes,"  said  Marco.  "  I  mean  to  get  a  piece  of 
pine  to  make  them  of,  the  first  time  I  find  any." 


A    VOYAGE    ON    THE    POND.  133 

Marco  had  an  opportunity  to  get  a  piece  of  pine 
suitable  for  this  purpose,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a 
souvenir  itself  of  an  adventure,  sooner  than  he  an 
ticipated  ;  for,  after  having  paddled  many  miles, 
towards  noon  a  breeze  sprung  up,  which,  though 
really  not  against  them,  retarded  them  somewhat, 
as  it  tended  to  drive  them  out  of  their  course. 
Their  intention  had  been  to  have  stopped  upon  the 
water,  about  noon,  to  eat  their  dinner ;  but,  as 
this  breeze  would  prevent  the  boat  from  remaining 
at  rest,  they  concluded  to  land  upon  an  island, 
which  was  near  where  they  were  at  the  time,  and 
take  their  dinner  there.  Marco  was  particularly 
pleased  with  this  plan,  as  it  would  enable  him  to 
build  a  fire,  and  he  always  wanted  to  build  a  fire 
on  such  occasions,  whether  there  was  anything  to 
be^cooked  by  it  or  not. 

The  island  was  rocky,  and  it  was  covered  with 
trees.  On  the  sheltered  side  of  it  there  was  a 
beach,  where  the  party  landed.  Although  this 
beach  was  somewhat  protected  from  the  wind,  still 
the  waves  which  rolled  in  kept  the  water  in  a  state 
of  agitation.  They,  however,  landed  here,  running 
the  head  of  the  boat  upon  the  sand. 

There  was  a  large  tree  lying  here,  with  its  top 
in  the  water,  and  but-end  upon  the  beach.  It  was 
a  tree  which  some  settler  had  cut  down  at  some 
place  near  the  shore  of  the  pond,  and  when  the 
water  was  high  it  had  been  washed  off,  and,  after 
drifting  about  the  pond  for  some  time,  it  had  got 
lodged  upon  this  beach,  where  it  remained  in  the 
12 


134     MARCO   PAUL  IN   THE   FORESTS   OF  MAINE. 

position  in  which  our  adventurers  found  it.  It 
had  been  lying  there  for  more  than  a  year,  and  the 
branches  which  were  out  of  the  water  were  dead 
and  dry.  The  foliage  had  long  since  disap 
peared. 

The  boatman  brought  the  boat  up  alongside  of 
this  tree,  so  that  Forester  and  Marco  stepped  out 
upon  the  trunk,  and  walked  to  the  land.  The 
boatman  then  tied  the  boat  to  one  of  the  dead 
branches  of  the  tree,  and,  taking  the  basket  of  pro 
visions  and  the  hatchet,  they  all  walked  along,  in 
search  of  a  place  for  their  dinner. 

They  found  a  sheltered  and  pleasant  place,  at  a 
little  distance,  under  the  trees.  Marco  soon  struck 
a  light,  and  began  to  build  a  fire.  He  found  it 
somewhat  difficult,  however,  to  procure  dry  wood 
enough  for  the  fire,  until,  at  last,  he  thought  of  the 
branches  of  tne  tree  to  which  the  boat  was  fastened. 
He  accordingly  went  to  the  place  and  began  to  cut 
them  off. 

The  boat  was  somewhat  in  the  way  while  he 
was  doing  this,  and  he  thought  he  would  move  it. 
He  could  fasten  it  just  as  well,  he  thought,  by  a 
stake  driven  into  the  sand.  He  therefore  cut  off 
one  of  the  branches,  and,  after  squaring  one  end 
and  sharpening  the  other,  he  drove  it  down  as  well 
as  he  could  into  the  sand.  He  then  fastened  the 
boat  to  this  stake,  thus  removing  it  from  the  tree, 
and  clearing  the  way  so  that  he  could  conveniently 
cut  off  the  branches. 

This  was  not,  however,  a  very  wise  operation, 


A    VOYAGE    ON    THE    i>OND.  135 

for  it  is  very  difficult  to  drive  a  stake  securely  into 
sand.  Sand,  even  when  wet,  has  so  little  tenacity 
that  it  yields  to  the  slightest  force,  and  the  stake 
soon  began  to  work  loose,  by  the  motion  of  the 
boat,  agitated  by  the  waves ;  and,  in  fact,  before 
Marco  had  finished  carrying  away  the  branches, 
the  stake  was  entirely  loosened  from  its  bed,  and 
was  just  ready  to  topple  over. 

As  the  boat  continued  to  pull  upon  it.  this  way 
and  that,  as  it  was  agitated  by  the  fluctuation  of 
the  water,  it  soon  drew  it  down,  and  the  boat,  being 
now  entirely  at  liberty,  began  to  move  slowly  off 
from  the  shore.  It  soon  drifted  out  where  it  was 
more  fully  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  wind,  when 
it  began  to  move  much  faster.  And  thus,  while 
our  party  of  voyagers  were  eating  their  dinner, 
seated  on  a  flat  rock,  by  the  side  of  a  good  fire,  in 
fancied  security,  their  boat  was  quietly  drifting 
away,  thus  apparently  cutting  them  off  from  all 
communication  with  the  main  land. 

Marco  made  the  discovery  that  the  boat  was 
gone,  just  after  finishing  his  dinner,  and  he  im 
mediately  gave  the  alarm.  Forester  and  the  boat 
man  came  at  once  to  the  spot.  They  could  just 
see  the  boat,  half  a  mile  distant,  under  a  ledge  of 
rocks,  which  formed  the  shore  in  that  place. 

This  was  the  third  time,  on  this  journey,  that 
Marco  had  found  himself  isolated  in  circumstances 
of  difficulty  and  danger,  and  cut  off,  apparently, 
from  all  convenient  means  of  retreat ;  and,  at  first, 
he  thought  that  this  was  the  worst  and  the  most 


136      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

dangerous  of  the  three.  In  fact,  he  did  not  see  in 
what  possible  way  they  could  escape. 

"  What  shall  we  do  ? "  asked  Forester. 

"  We  must  make  a  raft,  somehow  or  other,"  said 
the  boatman.  "  If  I  had  a  log,  I  could  go  after  the 
boat  on  that." 

"Won't  this  tree  answer  for  a  log?"  asked 
Marco. 

The  boatman  looked  at  the  tree.  He  said  that, 
if  he  had  an  axe,  he  thought  he  could  cut  off  the 
top,  and  roll  the  trunk  into  the  water ;  but  it  would 
take  him  a  long  time,  he  said,  to  hack  it  off  with 
the  hatchet. 

There  seemed  to  be,  however,  no  alternative ; 
so  he  set  himself  at  work,  and  in  due  time  he  cut 
off  the  stem  of  the  tree,  just  where  it  entered  the 
water.  They  all  three  then  took  levers,  which  the 
boatman  made  with  his  hatchet,  and,  by  making 
great  exertion,  they  got  the  log  out  of  the  sand, 
and  rolled  it  round  into  the  water,  where  it  floated. 
The  man  then  cut  a  long  pole,  and,  mounting 
upon  the  log,  he  pushed  himself  out  over  the  sur 
face  of  the  water. 

Forester  and  Marco  watched  his  progress  with 
great  interest.  Marco  thought  that  he  would  cer 
tainly  roll  off  the  log,  but  he  seemed  to  stand  and 
to  walk  upon  it,  perfectly  at  his  ease.  He  would 
advance  to  the  forward  end  of  the  log,  and  then, 
planting  the  foot  of  his  pole  in  the  sand  on  the 
bottom,  he  would  push,  walking  along  as  the  log 
advanced,  until  he  came  to  the  stern  end  of  the 


A  VOYAGE  ON  THE  POND. 


137 


log,  when  he  would  draw  out  his  pole,  and  walk 
back  again.  In  this  way  he  propelled  the  log 
until  the  water  became  too  deep  for  his  pole  to 
reach  the  bottom,  and  then  he  ceased  these  efforts, 
and,  standing  upright,  he  left  himself  to  be  driven 
along  slowly  by  the  wind. 


Forester  and  Marco  saw  plainly  that  he  would 
be  gone  for  some  time,  and  they  amused  them 
selves,  during  his  absence,  in  wandering  about  the 
shores  of  the  island.  In  one  place,  Marco  found, 
upon  a  rock  a  little  above  the  water,  a  slab  of  pine 
wood,  which  was  bleached  by  the  sun  and  rain. 
It  had  drifted  down,  the  summer  before,  from  some 
stream  emptying  into  the  pond.  In  the  winter  it 
had  been  frozen  into  the  ice,  and,  when  the  ice 
broke  up  on  the  following  spring,  the  cake  to  which 
the  slab  was  attached,  had  been  crowded  up  upon 
12* 


138      MARCO  PAUL  IN  THE  FORESTS  OF  MAINE. 

the  shore,  where  the  slah  had  been  left  when  the 
ice  melted. 

Marco  immediately  thought  that  this  slab  would 
furnish  him  with  a  good  piece  of  wood  to  make  a 
flower  press  of,  and  he  accordingly  dragged  it  up 
where  he  could  work  upon  it  with  his  hatchet. 
He  soon  cut  off  a  piece,  of  the  proper  length,  and 
hewed  it  down  so  as  to  make  it  of  a  convenient 
shape  to  carry. 

When  Forester  came  to  examine  it,  he  said  he 
thought  it  was  a  very  good  piece,  and  when  it  was 
planed  smooth  and  varnished,  he  thought,  from  its 
appearance,  that  it  would  be  of  a  very  pretty 
color. 

"  You  can  get  it  made  at  the  first  shop  we  come 
to,"  said  Forester,  "  and  then  you  can  collect  and 
preserve  a  great  many  flowers  in  it,  when  we  get  to 
Canada.  When  you  get  home,  you  can  put  them 
in  a  book,  and  call  them  the  Canadian  Flora." 

"  That 's  just  what  I  '11  do,"  said  Marco,  "  and 
then,  when  I  get  home,  I  '11  give  some  of  them  to 
my  cousins.  They  will  like  them,  because  they 
came  from  Canada.  But  I  can  't  put  a  great  many 
into  such  a  press." 

"  No,"  said  Forester.  "  You  only  collect  them 
in  the  press,  which  you  always  carry  with  you 
in  your  pocket.  You  put  them  all  in  a  book,  or  in 
a  larger  press,  as  soon  as  you  get  home,  and  then 
you  have  the  small  press  ready  for  use  again." 

While  they  were  talking  thus,  they  watched  the 


A    VOYAGE    ON    THE    POND. 


139 


boatman,  who  had,  by  this  time,  reached  the  land 
and  recovered  the  boat.  He  came  back  quite 
rapidly,  propelling  the  boat  with  the  paddle. 
Marco  and  Forester  embarked  on  board  of  her, 
and  they  finished  their  voyage  without  any  further 
adventure.  The  next  day,  they  reached  the 
Quebec  road,  and,  leaving  the  region  of  the 
Kennebec,  they  went  on  their  way  towards 
Canada. 


LOAN  DEPT. 


APR  1 7  1979 


KG.  cm.  MAR  mm 


BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDSSDSS53S 


